A Walk in the Park
by T'Pring
Summary: A survey of a pretty planet causes an unusual effect on Sheppard's team. Only Rodney seems unaffected and it's up to him, Elizabeth and Carson to puzzle out the cause and find a solution. Before it's too late for Sheppard. Complete!
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: Completed Aug 22._**  
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**A Walk in the Park **

John Sheppard sat perched on the edge of Elizabeth Weir's desk and idly nudged the objects she kept as decoration into straighter lines, then into random zigzags. She was sure he did it to annoy her. There was a perfectly comfortable chair mere inches from his swinging legs, yet invariably he chose the desk. With a sigh and an amused quirk of her lips, she gave up on reading that one last memo before the rest of Sheppard's team arrived and sat back into her own chair. "John, get off my desk."

Seemingly pleased that he had at last acquired her attention, he hopped off to flop comfortably into the chair. With the briefest of looks and a hint of a mischievously raised eyebrow, he swung his feet up, legs crossed onto the desk instead. Elizabeth forced back annoyance and instead leaned forward herself to rest her chin lightly against her hands, smiling slightly. There were moments when running Atlantis with John was like working with a kid brother. And yet, she wouldn't have it any other way. All she had to do was imagine any of his counterparts in the military in his place, any other stick-up-the-ass-have-all-the-answers Colonel, to quickly overcome any irritation his irreverent playfulness produced.

Besides, she could handle John Sheppard. They had been through a lot together. She knew through their shared experiences that at his core, John was intensely competent, loyal and intelligent. He would probably deny it to his last breath, preferring those around him to believe him laid-back and indifferent, but she had been willing to see through the act from the start. These days, although it had come gradually, she even trusted him. And he responded with subtle gratitude, a slow-growing trust of his own…and annoying charm.

Before she could develop a strategy to focus her 2nd in command for the meeting ahead, he folded his hands into his outstretched lap and asked innocently, "Whatcha reading?"

Deciding the best way to beat 'em was to join 'em, she shrugged in playful reply and said, "Post-mission reports and personnel files. Stargate Command is expecting my end-of-year personnel report in the next scheduled data-burst, so I'm just refreshing my memory on everyone's performance over the past year…making suggestions for areas to improve…" She kept her face otherwise straight as she fixed John in a long steady gaze. Frowning as he picked up the implication, he chewed his lip a bit in mock concern.

She looked pointedly at his feet on her desk, raised an eyebrow. And with a "_Ha, ha, you got me"_ expression he swung them off to sit a bit more at attention. She grinned winningly and was surprised when his next words were soft with reflection and little wistful. "I can't believe we've been here nearly two years." Their eyes met with shared memory and unspoken appreciation.

She was spared the task of trying to figure out what to say next without completely embarrassing herself or revealing the schoolgirl crush on John she usually kept buried deep under layers of protocol and self-denial by the timely arrival of Teyla, Ronon and Dr. Rodney McKay who came clattering and chatting into the room. Blowing out a breath of relief as John became distracted by the noise and bustle she turned her thoughts to the group and the agenda for the day.

Once everyone was settled, she began with "So. John, tell me about…P1C-270." She made it a point to be briefed on every away team's mission, even though 80 were chosen and planned by the science team or Sheppard, and approved by Sheppard before ever making it to her desk. The pre-mission briefing was her way to stay on top of where her people were at any given moment. It was only on the rare occasion that she would state an objection, or scrub a mission. Sheppard usually brought anything he thought might be controversial to her long before it got to this point.

This was not one of those controversial missions. And in fact from the sheet of paper in front of her, it didn't even look like something John would usually assign to his own team. Confirming her suspicions that something else must be up, Sheppard just rolled his head towards Rodney and bellowed lazily, "McKay, this one's all yours…"

Startled, Rodney McKay, lead scientist and 2nd in the civilian chain of command seemed unusually flustered as he fidgeted and shuffled the mission proposal report before answering. "Right, right. P1C—270." Rodney seemed to be buying himself time to think. "An unpopulated planet seething with lifeforms but no interesting mineral or geological features. The 'gate is located in the middle of the northern hemisphere of a single, massive continent and it's spring there at the moment. Temperatures in the mid to high 70s. Orbital jumper survey reported no indication of previous populations at all and found no anomalous energy readings either." Rodney read off the boring information in a tone equal to its interest. But finishing with "Hey! Should be a walk in the park." He ended with a flourish like a salesman closing a million-dollar deal.

Puzzled, Elizabeth shot a look at John who only shrugged and looked at the ceiling. He seemed to be supressing vast amusement. Ronon and Teyla looked unimpressed yet resigned. Amused herself, she fixed Rodney with a look and asked pointedly, "Why this particular park, Rodney?"

"Oh, uh… well, the Stargate is situated in a very pretty meadow of very interesting… flowers. They give off life signs readings despite being very clearly plants and Dr. Brown wants to take a botany team to study the pollen swirls they create. So I said I would… well, that is _we_ would survey the field to clear it for a civilian research expedition." Rodney cleared his throat in a nervous cough and resumed shuffling the paper in his hand.

"Oh," said Elizabeth desperately trying to keep a straight face. There it was. Dr. _Katie_ Brown was a rumored romantic interest of Rodney's. According to the rumor, he had survived one disastrous date and they hadn't gone out since. But she had noticed him dropping things and bumping into consoles on those rare occasions he got near her in the casual situations of Atlantis life. Knowing it was a very bad idea, she looked at John again under the pretense of checking with him for approval. He was watching her closely and the second he caught her glance, he cocked his head just a tad and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Poorly concealing the laugh that burst out with a coughing fit, she finally managed to say, "Well then, you have a go. Enjoy!"

"Dawn on the lovely P1C-270 is in one hour people. We ship out in two." Sheppard swept his gaze over his team, making sure each of them had understood and accepted the command. Standing slowly and stretching as he watched the rest shuffle out of Elizabeth's office, he perched himself on the edge of her desk for one last moment, frowning and tapping the screen on her computer. "Make sure you read the file about how I single-handedly destroyed two wraith Hive ships before you write that report," he told her with mock concern.

Ignoring the bait, she just grinned up at John and asked, "You let him talk you into this?"

With a "_yeah, so what"_ shrug he just said, "You heard him. It'll be a walk in the park! Especially compared to the time I rescued a whole planet's population from a Volcano and got us an Ancient warship."

"Goodbye, John!" She dismissed him with a wave and turned to her memos, hoping he'd get the hint. But she was still smiling.

He chuckled softly and she heard him slide off the desk and stride towards the control room. She looked up to watch him leave just as he glanced back with one last roguish grin.

"Be safe!" she called after him softly.

His smile was genuine as he nodded in response. Then he turned on his heel and was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Sheppard and Teyla leaned over the MALP monitor as the gateroom flickered and danced with the ambient light of an activated Stargate. The grainy black and white image still managed to convey the beauty of the planet they were planning to explore as waving grasses, bright morning sunshine and cloudless sky were caught by the MALP's turning camera. Teyla sighed and smiled at Sheppard, "It does look beautiful," she said. "Perhaps it won't be so unpleasant to perform such a simple survey after all."

John grinned back, thinking that Teyla's innate curiosity and sense of adventure were two of the reasons he liked having her on his team so much. They were good at what they did, and he usually reserved more difficult or uncertain missions for himself and Atlantis' premiere team. But the truth was they were all tired. And despite his full intention to milk for all it was worth McKay's belief that they were doing this just for him, John had leapt at the chance for some light work in a pretty place.

Thinking again about this morning's conversation with Elizabeth, it surprised him how hard the realization that they were nearing their 2nd anniversary on Atlantis had hit him. It had gone so fast, and when he tried to think back over those two years, the memories most clear in his mind were of fear and violence, desperate acts of survival and uncertainty. Of course there were as many triumphs as terrors, but as he looked at the waving flowers, he decided he was glad they were going for a walk in a park. He thought he maybe needed to create some peaceful, happy memories so that next year, when he looked back he could feel… something… he struggled for the right word: Balanced perhaps.

Mentally shaking himself and bringing his focus back to the matter at hand, he thought through the mission out loud. "That field is huge. Rodney called it a meadow, but it looks like acres of open ground. I'm thinking teams of two, we'll cover more territory. The botany expedition shouldn't need more than a square mile off the gate for their work. You take Rodney, I'll jolly Ronon." Sticking his neck out to catch a glimpse of the large Satedan member of his team who was glaring daggers at Rodney as they stood in the center of the gateroom below, he added, "I don't think he's as interested in flowers as we sensitive types…"

Nodding her approval, Teyla followed John as he lightly jogged down the steps to join McKay and Ronon at the foot of the Stargate. Ronon was still staring at McKay who seemed to be deliberately ignoring the cold attention. As Sheppard pulled up next to them, he glanced once down their line to see if everyone was ready…and then with the purest of pure double-takes, he fixed McKay with an incredulous stare. "What the hell is that?"

The quirky and often neurotic astrophysicist had some kind of mask-like thing wrapped around his neck. After the shock wore off, John recognized it as a surgical mask, one of those paper things Doctors wore so as not to sneeze on their patients when digging inside their insides.

"It's a dust mask." Rodney was trying valiantly and failing just as spectacularly to sound nonchalant.

"We're surveying a planet, McKay. Not performing appendectomies!"

"I have allergies."

"Then take a damn antihistamine."

"Did you see that field! The whole place is swimming in pollen, the wind kicks up giant swirls of the stuff which I think I already mentioned because that's what the botany team wants to study. I'd be dead from constricted airways before I got 10 feet from the gate, which reminds me…" McKay rummaged in his top vest pocket to pull out an epi-pen. "Should I get stung by any bee-like pollinators, I'm putting this in my top pocket. It's important to administer within the first minute of exposure to reduce the reaction."

John just stared, so torn between amusement and disgust all he could say was, "We're splitting up. You're with Teyla," and he shot her an "_I'm so sorry"_ look as she arranged her face into exasperated neutrality. Rodney turned to her and with deliberate exaggeration, put the epi-pen back in his pocket, making sure she watched as he did.

Sheppard realized he was still staring as Rodney next carefully situated the mask over his mouth and nose, adjusted the elastic and then haughtily clapped his hands. "Well, aren't we going?"

"Move out," John said automatically, watching Rodney bounce on his toes and happily follow Ronon into the shimmering event horizon. Teyla actually chuckled before gracefully stepping into the gate after him, which left John. Automatically he turned back for one last look up at the control room and realized he expected Elizabeth to be there to wave him off. Idly wondering when that unconscious habit had started, he wasn't disappointed to see her leaning over the communications console, deep in conversation with Chuck and tapping in her PDA. She grinned when she noticed him turn back and threw a very small wave in his direction before returning her full attention back to her conversation.

Squaring his shoulders and gripping his weapon in readiness, he dove into the wormhole.

A fresh spring breeze tickled his face the moment he stepped out of the gate on the other side. Teyla and Ronon were deployed just off the edge of the small stone platform the Stargate sat on, carefully scanning the wide field all around them. But John thought even Ronon looked like he just might be enjoying the air and the view. His and Teyla's stances were relaxed, their faces tilted up to catch the gentle wind. Grinning himself, John stepped next to Rodney as the gate shut down and left them in a comfortable, natural silence.

"Any life signs?" As pleasant as this place felt, John was not going to abandon caution, and it was Rodney's job to immediately scan the area of their arrival for life signs and energy readings.

"Too many life signs!" Rodney replied, his voice sounding muffled through the mask. He raised the small hand-held scanner for John to see. The screen that usually showed a black grid with white dots to indicate people and animals was solid white, the dots so overlapping they merged into a bright, completely useless mass. Glancing up at the field around them, he went on, "The flowers give off life signs, which is one reason why Dr. Brown is so interested in them. They may be thermogenic like the philodendron and other species in the _Arum_ family on Earth. Thermogenic, by the way, means they have a metabolism that generates heat using mitochondria and fats, neither of which is involved in normal plant respiration. To the scanner it must look rather more like animal metabolism than normal plant metabolism."

"I know what thermogenic means, Rodney… just as long…" He was interrupted by McKay's skeptical scoff.

"You know what thermogenic means? I mean, _knew_. Before I explained it to you?"

"Yes," Sheppard drew the word out into insolent superiority. "Did _you_? Before _Katie_ explained it to you?" Thoroughly enjoying Rodney's reaction that all too clearly indicated Sheppard had hit his mark, he went on before the scientist's discomfiture exploded into a verbal fit, "As I was saying… we can leave the biology to the biologists. Just as long as none of these guys start screaming _'Feed me Rodney'_ and singing showtunes,"

"Ha, ha. Very funny." Rodney turned away, still annoyed by Sheppard's jab. But John smirked as he saw the paranoid man suddenly look warily over the edge of the stone into the grass below and wave his sensor again over the plants.

Hopping off the stone, John situated his sunglasses and joined Teyla and Ronon to gaze out over the field. The sun was to their backs and their shadows stretched out into the flowers in front of them. "Teyla, you and McKay work Southeast to North, we'll go Northwest to South. Two mile perimeter. Radio contact every hour. You both got your flares?" Checking for their confirming nods he went on, "The LSD is useless here, so if you get in trouble, send up a flare…" his voice trailed off as a whirling dust-devil materialized about a mile out in the field directly in front of them. The breeze blowing in their faces wasn't strong, but the particles spinning madly in the dust-devil grew dense, darkening the funnel, and rose ever higher into the air. Finally growing thinner and thinner, the funnel bent into snakey S shapes and with a last puff of dust or pollen, dissipated completely.

"Coooool," John said.

"If you like swirling hay-fever on a stick…" Rodney muttered, now fumbling with the camcorder. Obviously his dislike of the phenomenon didn't preclude his getting as much data as possible about it.

This time John chose to ignore McKay and feeling a sudden surge of contented excitement, he bounced once on his heels and took a deep refreshing breath. "Let's go people! See you in a few, Teyla. Rodney…" And he stepped out briskly in the direction of another fascinating pollen-tornado-swirl, Ronon close on his heels.

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Rodney watched Sheppard and Ronon stride away, looking for all the world like hiking in an alien vat of pollen and miniature "Audrey II"s was the most fun they'd had all week. Sometimes he wished he weren't so indispensable and could stay holed up on Atlantis in his lab writing Nobel prize-winning papers. But the Colonel would probably be long dead from some idiotic act of useless heroism if Rodney hadn't been there to propose alternative (and actually constructive) solutions to the messes their team seemed to get themselves in. Since Rodney essentially liked the guy, he continued to tag along offworld.

And, he admitted charitably, he _had_ asked Sheppard to arrange a survey of this planet as a favor to Dr. Brown. He just hadn't expected Sheppard to assign their team to do it.

"Are you ready, Dr. McKay?" Teyla smiled warmly at him and with a sigh and only a little regret, he stepped carefully off the stone platform and followed her in the opposite direction Sheppard had taken. They walked for a little while in silence as Rodney continued to keep an eye on his palm sensor and the flowers they were walking through. They looked like perfectly normal plants, the leaves were a little spikier than earth leaves and the blooms resembled tiny white peace lilies…or as McKay actually thought to himself, they resembled oval-shaped satellite dishes.

"Are there plants such as this on your world, Rodney?" Teyla asked conversationally.

"Um, yes and no. There are a few that actually resemble these blooms, the ones I know are larger. But there are very few on Earth that are warm-blooded, colloquially speaking, like these are. According to Dr. Brown, there's sure to be some evolutionary or environmental reason behind the unusual biology." Usually, Rodney had little in common with the Pegasus native who came from such a different and…unsophisticated background. But Teyla was very nice, and very bright and Rodney was growing more comfortable with the concept of small talk as he spent more time with his teammates.

"Dr. Brown seems very nice. I understand she has completed the training to do fieldwork. She will be able to join the expedition to this planet that follows our survey."

"Mmmm, yes. I think that's why she was so eager to get the planet cleared. She was really pleased when I told her the survey had been scheduled." Rodney suddenly felt himself blush deeply, and afraid he'd given away too much, he hastily babbled on for a while longer about sensors and plant metabolisms, really hating the way Teyla's grin grew more amused with each sentence.

Finally desperate to distract her from the knowing looks she kept shooting him, he looked around at the horizon and suddenly pointed, "There's something on the ground over there." Desperate as he was, he wasn't about to head towards it alone, and allowed Teyla to pull ahead. He noticed she adjusted her weapon to a more ready position as they approached the shaggy brown lump.

"It appears to be dead," she said finally, after studying it carefully from several paces away.

"Are you sure?" Rodney hoped he sounded cautious rather than scared.

Drawing her knife she moved closer and nudged it a bit with her toe before squatting next to the creature. Rodney edged up closer himself and despite looking stiff and bloated with decay, he could see it was obviously some sort of canine. The lips around the teeth were drawn back with rigormortis to reveal sharp fangs and jagged incisors. Clearly a carnivorous canine, at that. Rodney grimaced and looked away as Teyla began to poke at it with her knife. "Oh is that really necessary? We're not going to skin it to make rugs."

"I want to know what killed it," she answered, "If there is a predator nearby larger than this animal, we should know about it."

Rodney suddenly became very interested in their surroundings, spinning on the spot as if he expected a saber-tooth tiger to jump out at him that instant.

"No flies…" she muttered, and McKay did take note that in fact they hadn't seen any insects at all, flying or otherwise, since they had arrived. The observation was surprisingly comforting. His 9 mil could keep away any four-legged predators, but bees were another thing…

Teyla went on, "But there's a very odd odor, definitely the scent of death, but something else too. Something almost pleasant, like leaves or fresh cut wood…"

"Have you figured out what killed it yet? Maybe we should call Sheppard to warn him we've found evidence of carnivorous animals. He'll want to know if there are more around…"

He trailed off because Teyla suddenly stood abruptly then staggered a step before leaning heavily against his shoulder and he instinctively grabbed for her. Too surprised to do more than keep her standing, he waited until she shook her head blearily. "I feel a bit dizzy…" she said, then sagged even more into Rodney's grip.

Grunting with the effort of trying to keep her upright, he finally heaved her into a position where he could grab her waist and practically beat his chest as he activated his radio. "Sheppard! Teyla's ill! She just collapsed!"

The surprised fear was rapidly transforming into full blown panic as long moments passed with no reply, just the soft hiss of an open receiver. "Sheppard. Come in, do you read?" Still only silence.

"Here we go again…" Rodney muttered, and began to drag Teyla back the way they'd come.

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For the first half-hour, John Sheppard and Ronon Dex walked with easy speed due North, both of them comfortable using their own strides to mark the distance and their own internal clocks to monitor the passage of time. At regular intervals, with almost instinctive coordination, they would pause, circle, listen…then move on again. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to simply do what he did without interruption from chattering scientists and stupid questions from inexperienced civilians. Despite training under different suns in different galaxies, Ronon and Sheppard were both military men, they were more alike than some of his own people from Earth.

Granted, Ronon had some anger issues, but hell so did he. He just tended to mouth off and get himself in trouble with his superiors instead of shoot them. But it was why he'd worked so hard to earn Ronon's trust and convince him to join his team; people along the way had given him a second chance when he needed it. He wanted to do the same.

With a sudden vivid flashback, John saw again the forest where they had found Ronon while looking for the renegade Lt. Ford. He could smell the ozone from the steamy jungle forest, he could hear the mosquito-like whine of the Wraith darts as they buzzed the canopy over his head and he ran through the nighttime gloom after his delusional friend…

"Sheppard," Ronon's deep quiet voice yanked him back to the present. His heart was racing and he'd been within a nerve impulse of bolting. Confused by the strange impulse, he stopped walking to gather his composure, hoping Ronon hadn't noticed anything amiss.

"What?" John managed to answer steadily.

"Another pollen funnel, 300 paces. I saw some kind of creature near it."

"Scary dangerous creature or cute furry creature?" Spotting the dust-devil Ronon had indicated, Sheppard really hoped it was the latter. He hated parks with monsters…

"I couldn't tell if it was mammalian or reptilian, but it didn't seem to be hunting. Just running away from the dust…" John smiled at the Satedan's literal-mindedness, but could sense that Ronon wasn't worried, so he decided not to worry either. But he did thumb the safety off on his P-90. OK, he would worry that much.

"Let's try to get closer to one of those pollen funnels. Make sure they're not forceful enough to bother the science teams."

Seeing that the funnel that Ronon had pointed out was dissipating, they stood for a few minutes watching the horizon. Only a minute or two later, another burst of pollen-dust rose from the flowers only 100 yards away and feeling like a kid chasing rainbows, John dashed off towards it.

"There, another one." Ronon was pointing towards a dark shape loping away from the funnel they were chasing. It was mostly obscured by the tall grasses and flowers, but John thought it looked like a shaggy brown wolf, or maybe a small long-legged bear. "Maybe they kick up the dust when they run?" Ronon added, slowing. The funnel had already blown away.

"Then why don't we have a trail of dust-devils following us?" John wondered out loud. "Let's see if Teyla has seen any of the creatures, and warn them to watch out if they haven't…"

As Sheppard reached for his radio and unconsciously turned back towards the way they'd come, he spun smack into a warm whirling cloud of pollen, dust and…something else that smelled like perfume and rotting flesh. Coughing and gagging, he threw his arm over his mouth and nose. His eyes were tightly closed against the stinging grains of airborne debris. He could hear Ronon swear and call his name, and then the Satedan was also coughing.

Just as suddenly the dust was gone and regretting the fact that he didn't have enough breath for the really creative expletives he wanted to use, John rubbed his face in his hands, sucking in clearer air. "Ronon, you OK?" he gasped out, still blinking. He was feeling odd, buzzed, as if he'd been drinking but also exhilarated as if he were in combat or competition. "I feel funky…" he added.

Finally getting his vision to clear he looked up just in time to see Ronon bearing down on him. The smashing blow to the side of his head threw him to the ground. His training and the odd rush he was feeling guided him to roll through the fall and he was up on his feet again grimacing at the sharp ache in his temple. "What the hell's wrong with you!" he shouted as Ronon attacked again. Sheppard blocked the strikes, one, two, three…then went down again onto his stomach. When he pushed up to try to stand, he felt Ronon's doubled fists smash into his back between the shoulder blades.

Face pressed into the grass, Sheppard gasped for breath as his lungs recovered from having the wind knocked out of them. He lay still, hoping to play dead long enough to get his strength back and be able to fight off another attack. But while his breathing became easier, the dizziness grew, along with the pounding in his ears. He eventually realized it was his heart racing as if he'd been running a marathon.

Risking the motion, he raised his head to see what Ronon was doing. Only waving grass and crushed flowers were in sight. Moving cautiously, as much to favor his aching head as to avoid attention, he pushed up onto his knees. Ronon was far in the distance, almost out of eyesight, running with all the might and speed he was capable of. John watched him run, feeling disoriented, becoming mesmerized by the running figure growing smaller in the distance…

_John was running through the forest, chasing the sound of gunfire in the distance. The air around him was dark and steamy and his feet squished with every step into damp leaves and wet dirt. His radio crackled to life with Major Lorne's voice._

_"Colonel Sheppard? We've got 'gate activity…Three wraith darts just came through."_

_"Great!" John replied, still running._

_"Colonel, Ronon is gone. There was another way out of the cave." This time it's Teyla's voice he hears._

_"Get back to the jumper!" John heard more gunfire and paused briefly to change direction, terrified he was going to be too late to save McKay from Ford. To save Ford from himself… At last he burst into the small clearing where Rodney was hanging upside down, and Ronon and Ford were dueling fiercely. "Lieutenant! Don't!" John yelled as Ford reached for a Wraith stunner…_

"Colonel! Do you read? What's going on? We didn't bring any jumpers! Teyla's ill. I'm trying to get her to the gate. Sheppard do you read?"

Rodney's frantic chant over the radio receiver buried in his ear seemed to fade in from a great distance as John finally became aware of it. Just as gradually he realized he was panting and he leaned on his knees to catch his breath. He'd been running. Sweat soaked his hair and shirt. Looking around to get his bearings, he spotted the Stargate only a few hundred yards away to the east, although he had no idea how he had gotten where he was. His hands were shaking when he reached for his radio to click in a reply. "Rodney?" was as far as he got before the excited McKay interrupted.

"Oh, thank God. Sheppard! Teyla collapsed. I'm trying to get her back to the gate. We're almost there now, but I've been calling you for ages. Hey, are you OK by the way?"

If Sheppard hadn't been so disoriented, he'd have been pissed as hell. "No. I'm… Ronon attacked me. I ran and…" He was at a loss to explain to himself what had happened during the vivid flashback, much less explain it to anyone else. "Get to the gate," he finished. The Stargate meant home, and even as the dizziness and odd euphoria consumed him again, his one thought was to get back to that place of safety.

"Ronon did what? Why? Do you need help getting to the Stargate? Here, I'll set off my flare so you can find us. Set off yours if you need me to come get you." The voice that anchored John to reality was fading again and moments later a bright white spark trailing thick lingering smoke rose out of the field…

_A single drone launched itself out of the crashed jumper and with a satisfying fireball impacted the underside of the descending Wraith Cruiser._

_"We scored a hit!" McKay yelled happily._

_"Great. That's gonna either buy us time or piss them off."_

_"Colonel Sheppard, you've damaged the Wraith cruiser and it's leaving the area, but there are two more incoming." With incredible relief, John recognized Elizabeth's voice coming from the radio that Torrell still held in his hand. McKay's shout echoed his own joy..._

_"Elizabeth I need you to keep the gate open until the last of them go through, then shut it down and dial Atlantis."_

_"We can land and pick you up." Elizabeth's voice was anxious, concerned. John waited nervously as the Olesian prisoners ran and stumbled through the gate just within view of the Jumper's cracked window. Glancing up, he almost shuddered at the shadow of another Wraith Cruiser approaching them._

_"Negative," John finally answered, "just keep the 'gate open. We'll take it from there. Stay in stealth mode until the Wraith have gone away."_

_"We're dialing Atlantis. Head for the Gate."_

_Dashing out the back of the jumper, John urged his team ahead of him to race for the gate. He felt a moment of relief as the puddle swooshed into life, just before the heat and roar of a thundering explosion knocked into him from behind and he stumbled, scrambling even harder for the safety of Atlantis, of home._

"Sheppard, wait!" Rodney's voice was panicky and John couldn't tell whether he was hearing the man from nearby, through the radio, or only in his confused mind… "I need to send the IDC! Dammit not yet!"

But John couldn't stop. The vision overwhelmed him with the stench of burnt ground and vegetation. The rumble of a descending Wraith Cruiser pounded in his ears. He planted his foot on the edge of the stone platform and flung himself into the event horizon.


	3. Chapter 3

Elizabeth was just passing through the Control room on the way to her office when the alarms began to wail and the chevrons on the Stargate glowed into life.

"Incoming wormhole," the tech bellowed, per protocol, just as Elizabeth whispered to herself, "That's odd…" No one was scheduled back for several hours. Sheppard's team had only been gone a little over an hour. Stopping by the DHD console, she crossed her arms to wait for the gate to open.

The instant a connection was made, Rodney's voice blared over every radio in the room. Sounding thick with panic he was yelling over and over, "Lower the shield, Sheppard's coming through. I can't stop him, I'm sending my IDC but Sheppard's already through. Lower the shield! Lower the shield!"

Elizabeth didn't even think. She pounced on the control to turn off the shield that disintegrated any unwanted travelers into a splatter of molecules. The technician in charge of the security protocols was looking at her in shock, but within a mere instant of the shield's collapse, Sheppard's body flew horizontally through the event horizon to land with a long, graceful slide nearly the length of the platform. He seemed stunned and remained on his stomach where he stopped.

"Get a medical team down here," Elizabeth snapped and was dashing towards the steps.

Sheppard finally bellowed, "Raise the shield!" still from his prone position, but Elizabeth thought his voice sounded shaky and weak, even as she heard the hum of the shield going back up.

"Atlantis, come in! Please come in. Did you get him? Did Sheppard make it?" Rodney sounded terrified and Elizabeth quickly tapped her headset, dropping to one knee beside a rigidly quiet John. The two guards stationed by the gate were hovering uncertainly nearby, unsure what to do.

"He's here, Rodney. He's OK, we got the shield down in time."

"Oh, thank goodness," the relief in his tone was palpable.

"He told us to raise the shield again."

"Well lower it again. I'm coming through. Teyla collapsed and is only semi-conscious. Sheppard was raving nonsense before he took that swan dive into the gate. I don't even know where Ronon is. He isn't answering his radio."

"Understood," Elizabeth replied, although there was very little about the whole situation she actually did understand, "see you in a minute." She tapped off her radio, ordered the very confused security technician to lower the shield again, and turned her full attention back to John. He was hot and gasping as if he'd just run from the devil himself. He lay frozen on his stomach, locked into a rigid half-pushup, his forehead drooping towards the floor. "John, are you OK? What happened?"

He turned his head slightly towards her voice and mumbled, "Wraith cruiser was bearing down on us. Elizabeth is staying behind in the cloaked jumper until it's safe to come through…" It made no sense to her but before she could question him more, two paramedics were gently nudging her aside and coaxing John to roll over and sit up. She stood and backed off to let them work. John continued to talk as if holding a conversation with someone who wasn't there, "His name's Eldon, he helped us escape…"

"That must have been some park…" she whispered to herself.

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Rodney took a brief moment to collect himself before returning to Atlantis. However irritated he had sounded as he bullied Elizabeth to let them through, deep down he was shaken by Sheppard's close call. They almost never thought about the force shield on Atlantis as dangerous to them, even he who was prone to worry about most everything. They sent their IDC and they went through. In that order…

Thinking for a bit, he suddenly scrabbled in a pocket and pulled out the Ancient equivalent of a screwdriver and popped open the cover on the DHD's control panel. Wiggling his fingers over the glowing crystal disks, he spotted the one he wanted and pulled it out. He took the time to replace the cover after shoving the stolen crystal into another pocket. "That should keep Ronon here," he spoke out loud to an unresponsive Teyla. Both Sheppard and Teyla had been affected by something in this stupid place that rendered them confused and incoherent. If Ronon was just as incapacitated, then Rodney assumed it would be a bad idea for the man to gate to other planets and wreak havoc in a delusional rampage. Sheppard _had_ said Ronon attacked him…

Finished with that task, he looked down at Teyla who was sitting on the ground, resting her head on her knees and rocking agitatedly. All the time muttering nonsense that sounded like one-sided conversation or snatches of dialog from a play. Stretching his back with a groan, he took a deep resigned breath and heaved on her arm, slinging it over his shoulder and wrapping his around her waist to hook into her belt. None too gracefully he lumbered towards the gate. Feeling relief wash over him he lurched through into the cool air of the Atlantis gateroom.

Elizabeth and two more Med techs were waiting for him and he gratefully lowered Teyla to the floor as the Stargate shut down behind him. With another stretch, he hastily stepped out of the way to let the paramedics work. Elizabeth walked over and touched his arm in a gesture of reassurance, and they both watched silently for a moment longer.

Suddenly looking around, McKay searched for Sheppard until he caught a glimpse of him just rounding the corner down the corridor to the Infirmary. He seemed to be walking under his own power, but the two medical escorts had their hands firmly on his arms to guide or support him, Rodney couldn't tell which. "How is the Colonel?" he asked abruptly, turning back to Elizabeth.

She sighed and gestured towards Teyla, "About like that. Unresponsive and muttering nonsense… Rodney, you can take that off now." He saw her looking with weary exasperation at his nose for some reason.

"Oh, sure." With an embarrassed swipe, he yanked the dust mask over his head and crumpled it into his pocket. He'd forgotten he'd been wearing it.

"What the hell happened?" Elizabeth added.

Pausing for a moment to move aside again so the paramedics could guide a now standing Teyla towards the short steps and the corridor beyond, McKay began walking after them before answering. "I don't exactly know…" he sighed, taking a deep breath and wringing his hands. "After Teyla collapsed and I started back towards the Stargate, Sheppard and Ronon didn't answer their radios for a long time. The first time I heard Sheppard respond he was yelling into it about 'Get back to the jumper', which made absolutely no sense. I was nearly to the DHD when he spoke again and that time he sounded somewhat lucid. He told me that Ronon attacked him, that he had run from him, and to get to the gate. That reminds me, I pulled a DHD control crystal so Ronon can't leave the planet, but it also means he can't dial here for help…"

Elizabeth nodded as they stopped walking to pause in the infirmary door and answered quickly, "We'll dial back at intervals to check the MALP relay. If he needs to come home, we'll send the crystals through. Why did John dive through the gate without sending his own IDC?"

"He must've zoned out again, because the second I finished dialing, he came out of nowhere pelting for the gate like the Wraith were on his tail."

"He told me the Wraith _were_ on his tail."

Rodney just shook his head in confusion. "The idiot almost got himself demolecularized by the wormhole's initial vortex he was so close. Be sure to thank the techs for getting the shield down so fast. I was positive the man was bug juice on a windshield." He was too overwhelmed by re-living the all-too-fresh incident to notice Elizabeth's proud smirk.

Suddenly shaking, and desperate to keep Elizabeth from noticing, Rodney turned away from her to flop himself into an infirmary chair. He still reacted in certain ways to certain death. It just seemed that lately, he was worrying more about other people's certain deaths than he used to. It was an annoyingly inefficient waste of mental energy that he really needed to knock off, he decided. There were certain advantages to egocentric selfishness. Speaking of which… he bolted out of the chair again so quickly that he saw Elizabeth startle in surprise and freeze halfway through sitting down herself.

"Everyone else on P1C-270 freaked out and went insane. What if I'm next? Hey, I need a doctor here!" And he pounded further into the infirmary bellowing for medical attention.

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Elizabeth paced for some time at the edges of the activity in the infirmary, not wishing to interrupt or inhibit the care of her people, but growing more anxious by the minute. She needed information to make sure her city wasn't in danger, and she needed to know how she could help. Spotting Dr. Carson Beckett, the head of all medical departments on Atlantis, she started towards him with a purposeful stride. Either because he saw her coming, or because it was his intention anyway, he waved to her and indicated she should follow him to Sheppard's bedside.

John was sitting with his legs slightly crossed and his arms wrapped around his knees in the middle of the bed. Someone had removed his Tac vest, weapons and shoes, but his shirt was still damp with sweat over his everyday BDU pants. At the moment his eyes were closed as if it took every bit of concentration to prevent himself from restless movement, but even then he was rocking ever-so-slightly with the effort. A bright red bruise on his left cheekbone was the only physical evidence of the eventful if short-lived survey mission.

With a glance past John, Elizabeth saw Teyla lying stretched out more comfortably on her bed, propped up on pillows. But she was equally restless, drawing her hands through her hair and turning her head back and forth as Elizabeth watched. Carson stopped just out of range to avoid disturbing John quite yet and turned to fully face Elizabeth.

"Carson, do we need a quarantine here?" The words blurted out of her and she realized that was her greatest fear; that whatever was affecting Sheppard's team would spread.

With reassuring haste, Carson replied, "No, lass. Whatever is bothering them doesn't seem to be infectious or contagious."

With a deep breath of relief, Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly. "What's wrong with them, then?"

It was Carson's turn to sigh. "I can only report symptoms at this point. Aside from the confusion and delirium you've seen, they both show elevated blood pressure, heart rate and respiration. The Colonel much more so than Teyla. We've got full blood workup on both of them being run as we speak."

"They were only on the planet for a little more than an hour. What could have done this to them so quickly?"

"The speed leads me to believe perhaps some kind of direct chemical agent. Perhaps they were struck by a tranquilizer dart of some sort or…"

"No. It couldn't be that." Rodney interrupted loudly from the bed behind them where he'd obviously been eavesdropping, and they both turned to face him. "We were in an open field with miles of view. There was no one else around to shoot a dart or anything else at us. I'm sure of it."

Elizabeth was studying McKay closely. "Why wasn't Rodney affected?" she asked at last.

"Who says I wasn't! Just because I haven't started babbling nonsense and making suicide runs into the Stargate yet doesn't mean I'm not a heartbeat from…"

"She's right. You're fine Rodney. In fact you can get down from there and go if you want." Carson was well used to ignoring McKay's hypocondriatic drama.

"You said my blood pressure was high." McKay seemed to be looking for an excuse to stay.

"It was high a month ago at your checkup and I believe we talked about cutting salt and caffeine out of your diet, now didn't we?"

The veiled threat in Carson's voice was enough to propel McKay off the table with undignified haste to stand next to Elizabeth, looking just a touch like he was avoiding the Doctor… "So. She's right. Why wasn't I affected?"

They were interrupted by a plaintive call from John, "McKay? Where's Ronon and Teyla?" He was still in the rigid knee-lock, but he was looking over at them. His eyes, while shadowed with effort and stress, were lucid.

"Teyla's right here in the next bed. She's loopy like you, but OK." Rodney moved closer and managed to sound both reassuring and excruciatingly awkward. John glanced quickly to his other side to confirm the statement.

"Where's Ronon?" there was a hint of impatience as he repeated the question.

"He's still galloping around on that planet. Probably beating the stuffing out of the daisies since you ran off and denied him a human punching bag…"

"Go get him." John's brusque delivery spoke more of the massive effort it seemed to cost him to speak rather than real anger and Elizabeth could hardly stand the strain in his voice.

"We will, John. I promise," she soothed, stepping near herself and resting her hand on his leg. "As soon as we figure out what is causing this and how to protect a rescue team, we'll go get him. You don't have to worry about Ronon, just worry about getting yourself better."

John squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered, dropping one hand to brace himself on the bed. Beckett bustled closer and slapped a blood-pressure cuff on the extended arm. Just as suddenly, Sheppard blinked his eyes open and stared at Elizabeth, "I can feel it. I can feel it changing me inside…like he did."

Completely confused and not a little concerned, Elizabeth leaned even closer, "What do you mean, John?"

Like a sleepwalker, John continued his own personal conversation in a distant voice, "No….No, it's ...One of the best weeks of my life was when I got my wisdom teeth out. I was on codeine for a full seven days. This is kinda the same. I know I should be in pain, or at the very least freaked out by this, but I'm not... and that freaks me out more than anything…"

With dawning realization, Elizabeth shot a look at Rodney, "He's reliving a memory. That's not random nonsense, it's exactly what he said to me that night he found the Iratus Bug scales on his arm, when he was infected by the unfinished retro-virus." John seemed to be staring at her expectantly, and she dove into her own memory to recall what she had said next all those long months ago.

"We're gonna beat this, John."

Without pausing a beat he replied, " 'We're gonna beat this?' 'Beckett'll figure this out'? 'You're gonna be fine?'? You really suck at the whole bedside manner thing."

Rodney snorted, but Elizabeth was too intent upon testing her theory. "I know," she murmured, giving him a shake to be sure he would listen. "But I appreciate the effort," they spoke the phrase in unison, proving her point to a now startled Dr. Beckett and a suddenly intent Dr. McKay. With another confused grimace, John closed his eyes again and resumed his painful not-quite-rocking, arms again around his knees.

Rodney pulled Carson and Elizabeth away with animated urgency. "That's it!" he said with breathless excitement. "It's the flowers that did this to them!" At the very skeptical looks he was receiving, he suddenly went to annoyed and ploughed on, "Hear me out. Carson, don't they say that scent is one of the strongest triggers for certain memories?"

"I've heard that, I suppose. But Rodney, smelling roses and being reminded of your Great Grandma Elsie isn't quite the same as being driven to delusional memory recall…"

"I just mean it fits. Perhaps the pollen or the scent of those very alien flowers," he emphasized the 'very alien' with great significance, "is evolutionarily designed to trigger such extreme memories. Or maybe it interacts with humans stronger or differently than it should, but I was the only one wearing a mask, unable to smell them or inhale pollen, and I'm the only one not drooling down memory lane."

Carson still seemed ready to argue, but Elizabeth cut him off, fixing McKay with a direct look. "What do you want to do, Rodney?"

"Let me take another team back to P1C-270. I'll take a botanist and a biologist and see if they concur with the theory at the site. We'll look for Ronon and bring back samples of the plants so Carson can use them to derive an antidote if he needs one. Maybe for once we can get out ahead of the problem…" He looked at her with expectant request.

She thought it through as quickly as she could. "How will you protect yourselves from further exposure to the flowers?"

"Standard issue Field Protective Masks should be more than sufficient…"

"Go, Rodney." He nodded once and shouldered his way out of the infirmary.

Watching him leave, Elizabeth then turned back to Carson, intending to offer a word of encouragement before she returned to the control room to help coordinate Rodney's team. His serious expression and deliberate look halted the words on her lips, "What is it, Carson?" she asked instead.

"The Colonel's heart rate has nudged up even higher, just in the last few minutes." Elizabeth remembered he'd been checking on John during their conversation… "Extended Tachycardia can lead to all kinds of problems, although I'm still hoping it won't come to that. I need to get a heart monitor on him, and we may need to consider sedating him."

"Then do that." Elizabeth wasn't sure why Carson was being so deliberate about explaining what seemed like perfectly reasonable treatment options.

"You just need to know that resorting to pharmacological solutions when we don't know what's causing the problem in the first place can be risky. Our lab is working as fast as they can, and right now it's not worth the risk but…"

"I understand, thank you Carson." Her voice remained steady, even though she was sure that if he checked her heart rate, the doctor would also find it well above normal, racing with the spike of fear that sank deep into her chest.

"We'll do our best, Elizabeth."

With one last look back at John, and a hint of regret at having to leave his side, she walked out of the infirmary towards the gateroom. Towards her best opportunity to help.

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In fact, Elizabeth ended up organizing the bulk of Rodney's return to P1C-270. In one of his brilliant but obsessive fits of insight, he disappeared early on to the jumper bay to reprogram the life signs detectors in an attempt to expedite their search for Ronon. Hastily checking through the city's roster of scientists trained for offworld missions, she contacted Dr. Nathan Miles, biologist, and Dr. Katie Brown. Katie was in fact the only botanist on the list who had so far spent any time familiarizing herself with this planet, so despite Elizabeth's concerns that she would distract McKay, the relevance of her expertise in this particular situation won out over other…considerations.

Major Lorne quickly volunteered to fly the jumper and with easy professionalism handled the security details. Barely an hour after leaving the infirmary, Elizabeth was waving off the group and stepping back from a slowly closing jumper hatch. She quickly turned and skipped down the steps to the control room and watched as the stubby space-worthy craft slowly lowered itself into position before a sparkling, active Stargate. After the briefest of pauses, it scooted forward and disappeared into the event horizon with an extended "splut" of sound and a footprint of ripples on the blue-white surface of the wormhole.

Chewing her lip for a long moment, Elizabeth was unsure what to do with herself next. One last glance at the MALP relay showed no sign of Ronon near the gate on the other side, and the jumper was already out of sight, heading off in a direction other than that in which the MALP's camera was pointed. "Shut it down," she told the technician softly and wandered towards her office, thinking briefly of burying herself in memos and brainless paperwork.

Instead, without even realizing she'd made a decision, she found her feet carrying her to the infirmary. She was unsettled more than she would admit by how quickly her day had gone from comfortable routine to crisis management. Not that any day was boring on Atlantis, but somehow she felt cheated, angry even, that a simple survey of some pretty flowers had three of her people suffering. It was exhausting to feel constantly on guard, to feel like she could take nothing for granted. If things continued like this, she'd have nothing but worries and sorrow to look back on in her time spent here.

She shuddered, unable to even imagine how horrible it must feel to be trapped reliving memories over and over. John's face had looked so haggard, so stressed as he fought to keep himself lucid. And medical explanations aside, she knew that was what he'd been doing: Fighting with every over-stimulated breath to stay in control. It had been no coincidence that the memory he recited to her was from the last time his body and his sanity had been compromised. That time he'd lost the fight and the Iratus bug retro-virus had ultimately overwhelmed him. They had nearly lost him, and she couldn't imagine how frightening it must be for him to face the possibility of losing control again, even if the flowers' effect were temporary and wore off soon.

Just as she was turning into the door, somewhat encouraged by the thought that perhaps the stimulant, or drug or whatever had affected her people had already worn off, she heard a hiss in her ear and Carson's voice followed the sound of an open channel, "Elizabeth, when would you have a chance to come back down here for a minute?"

"How about now!" she announced out loud, stepping up close behind the doctor so that he whirled in surprise.

"Ah, good then," recovering quickly, he tugged lightly on her arm over to Teyla's bed where the young woman still lay moving idly and muttering. A pretty Athosian woman, Teyla's age or a little older, sat next to her listening closely. She looked up and smiled as Elizabeth and Carson drew near. "I had one of our pilots go to the mainland to find someone who might understand better some of Teyla's 'memories', if in fact that is also what her verbalizations are. I prefer not to make assumptions because Teyla and the Colonel are reacting so differently to whatever agent they were exposed to, if in fact they were even exposed to the same agent. This is Eylana."

"Thank you for coming," Elizabeth told the woman warmly, and then to Carson she added, "Teyla seems…quieter than John was earlier. Is that what you mean by reacting differently?"

"Aye," the worried expression was back on Carson's face, "we got their initial blood work back. They both seem to be reacting to something that is stimulating the memory centers of their brains as you observed, but the Colonel's body is also producing massive amounts of adrenaline and stress hormones, which is what is driving up his heart rate and blood pressure. The problem is that we still haven't identified any chemical agents that could be causing this stimulation. There are no foreign drugs or chemicals in their systems that we can detect…and it doesn't seem to be improving over time like you would expect a drug to metabolize and clear from the body."

As he spoke he nodded gently to Eylana and led Elizabeth away from the two Athosian women. John was no longer in the next bed, so she followed, looking around hopefully for a glimpse of him. "Have you had to sedate him yet?"

Carson nodded, "Once we knew that adrenaline was cause of the physical symptoms, we tried Clonidine, a common antihypertensive to no effect. Something is stimulating the adrenal glands directly. We've just administered a low dosage of diazepam hoping the sedative will relieve the stress response, but that's why I wanted to talk to you. It's imperative we monitor his heart as a possible side effect of the sedative is reflex tachycardia, the opposite of what we're trying to do here. But the Colonel is too restless and agitated; he hasn't let us wire him up. I think we need to restrain him…"

Feeling like he'd kicked her in the stomach she closed her eyes and breathed, "Oh, Carson…" From Carson's expression, the suggestion hurt him just as much as it did Elizabeth.

They turned a corner into a secluded niche to find Sheppard pacing by the unused bed. He spotted them, turned on his bare feet to walk away the length of the bed, then spun back again. "Feel better, Doc. Thanks…" He thumped the mattress with a fist for a moment, then paced the length again.

"THIS is sedated?" Elizabeth whispered to Carson.

"Aye," he whispered back, then more loudly to answer John, "I'm glad to hear that Colonel, can you tell me in what way it feels better son?"

John shrugged, this time following the bed around the end and up the other side. "Not so tense…still hard to think." His voice faded and he pressed his palm into his temple. When he looked at Elizabeth again his eyes were clouded with delusion and he whispered, "Your own mortality staring you right in the face. I can't imagine how you must be feeling…"

"John? I don't understand." The words sounded familiar, he was reliving another memory but she couldn't quite pin it down.

"Just when you thought this place couldn't get any weirder…" Then he was pacing again. The truth of the statement struck her as uncomfortably amusing now as it had over a year ago when she'd been looking down at a 10,000 year old version of herself in a bed very much like this one.

"Carson, he seems at least to be in control of himself to some degree. Couldn't we just coax him to lie down? Maybe he'd lay still long enough to get the leads on, then he could walk around again…" She was desperate to find an alternative to restraining him. He was confused enough without adding betrayal and confinement to the mix. And she knew that was how he'd feel about being tied into bed against his will.

"Be my guest lassie, I've been watching him longer than you have and he's delusional more often than not. But maybe you'll get through. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a wee bit wary of me after all the time in the past year we've spent together." Elizabeth knew he was referring to John's extended stay in the infirmary fighting the Iratus retro-virus… Carson casually moved over to the EKG machine and began to quietly fiddle with the wires and paper circles of the sensors.

Hoping she looked familiar and reassuring, she stepped into John's path, forcing him to react to her. When his eyes met hers, she said calmly, "John, you need to lie down for a while. Can you do that? Can you rest for a while?"

He just looked warily to the side, and stepped around her to continue his walking. She stepped into his path again on the return circuit. "Sit down, Colonel. That's an order." She tried for command, hoping to maybe get an automatic compliance response. This time his look was cocky, annoyed even…

"How does that go again? Red, Orange, Blue or the other way around? You mind if we go over that again when I get back?"

"John…"

"You don't have to remind me of our respective positions or that you outrank me, sir." He shouldered past her roughly and she realized she'd miscalculated. He was more agitated and she let him walk by several more times before trying again.

Thinking that rather than trying to keep up with his random memories, she should maybe try to provoke him into one deliberately. She searched through her mind for some event, some conversation in their recent past that was calm…normal. It saddened her how difficult that was, they always seemed to be working or madly trying to survive. Finally settling on a memory, she made a promise to herself that going forward, she would make more of an effort to spend quiet, pleasant time with her people. Time when she could just be Elizabeth, and leave Dr. Weir behind.

As John walked past her again, she just started talking to him, "Hey, what are you doing up so late?" And then she continued the conversation for him, to prompt him into remembering that night on the Daedalus when they had shared coffee and looked out the viewport into a swirl of hyperspace. "Couldn't sleep? Must be the burden of command… you know ever since you were promoted to Lt. Colonel?" He had paused, and to her relief he finished the sentence with her.

"When are you going to stop bringing that up in every conversation?" She fed him her next line.

"You gotta understand -- there's a lot of people in the Air Force who never thought I'd make it past Captain!"

"Well obviously, the people whose opinions matter the most thought otherwise… sit down John." There was her ruse, he had sat with her at the table… maybe he would sit now. Holding her breath she watched him as he considered the bed, then slowly sat down on the very edge. She threw Carson a triumphant look, and motioned him closer to take advantage of the moment.

"What about you? What are you still doing up?" He was looking at her, but seeing only the memory in his mind.

"You're not well, John. I'm here to help. Carson is here to help. You need to rest for a while and sit quietly on the bed. Can you do that? Please do that for me?"

"Elizabeth?" his voice was soft and forced and as he shook his head a little and blinked, she could see him struggling through the visions. For the moment, he'd fought to the surface and was lucid. The effort and fear he was desperately trying to conceal broke her heart. He still looked like he'd been running from the wraith. His face was slicked with sweat and his usually fluffy hair was damp and spikey.

"Just lie down, John. You'll be ok. Lie down." And unable to resist, she reached to brush the clinging strands away from his forehead, her fingers lingering on his cheek in a gesture of comfort.

It was the wrong thing to do…

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John was swimming in a rushing current that pushed and carried him wherever it wanted. Sometimes he would be able to struggle to the surface and with a refreshing gulp of sanity reorient himself for a moment, only to be dunked back into memory after memory in a mixed up random jumble. The weirdest ones combined reality and memory in a bizarre overlay of experience.

Walking helped. It relieved the feeling of anxiety that was gradually building into an incredible urge to run again. The impulse had nearly become unbearable at one point and the effort of staying in control had forced his body into aching tension… But Beckett's small dose of Valium had provided some relief, after the initial struggle over holding him still long enough to inject the drug was won. It didn't help the mental drowning, but he didn't hurt as much anymore, and was able to continue pacing, pacing, pacing.

At one point he recognized that Elizabeth had joined Beckett nearby, her voice floated fresh and new memories into the eddies. _"Just when you thought this place couldn't get any weirder…"_

Then she started to get in his way. He needed to walk. He walked around her. His frustration triggered more memories, _"You don't have to remind me of our respective positions or that you outrank me, sir."_

She let him walk, she was talking to him and this time the memory was soothing. A gentle conversation between friends.

"Sit down, John."

He could do that. And he broke through for a moment to see her quietly urging him to lie down. Her tone and manner were still calm and soothing, but she didn't understand. He had to keep moving or he'd start running. Something of his fear must have shown because her look was pure sympathy and he hated it. He tried to tell her to stop feeling sorry for him and to get out of the damn way so he could walk.

And then she reached gently for his face, brushing away sweat-slicked hair and stroking his cheek.

The memory slammed into him with almost physical force.

_"Kneel."_

_The words were spoken, but they also reverberated through his head. Despite every effort to fight the impulse, he dropped to his knees to look up at the Hive Queen. She was going to question him. He must not answer._

_"The ship. Where did you get it?"_

_He must not answer. "You mean the Dart? We call them darts because they're so pointy…"_

_"Tell me. Where?"_

_"I really don't want to say." The Queen's sultry smile was the only warning she gave before her hand struck his face and he fell off his knees with the blow. After he righted himself, she leaned closer and gently ran her clawed finger down his cheek._

_"I don't even know your name." He struggled to remain brash. He must not answer. He had to get free of the Queen, get off the Hive…_

John felt rough hands pull him off the floor and in a moment of blended awareness, he somehow knew that they were the hands of his own people. At the same time he was certain they were wraith warriors escorting him off the Queen's dais to return him to a cell. "She didn't even tell me her name," he whispered.

"I'm sorry Elizabeth, I can feel his pulse racing just by holding his arms. We've got to get him restrained and monitored…" He heard the words, struggled to make sense of them.

John felt the hold on his arms loosen ever-so-slightly as he watched Carson fiddle with the bed, preparing to strap him into it. Understanding shot terror through his gut and he realized in both realities he was betrayed. He'd die if he couldn't move, tied into a bed. He'd die if he couldn't escape the wraith.

With an almighty wrench born of desperation and honed by training, he twisted out of the grasp of the men holding him. Ducking a grab, John easily planted his elbow in the overbalanced security guard's face, grabbed for his stunner as he fell and dashed through the infirmary door into the corridors beyond.

"John! Please come back."

The anguish in Elizabeth's voice almost…almost stopped him. Then he sank into the maelstrom again and knew nothing but running from the wraith. From the memories. From himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Major Lorne eased the jumper through the Stargate into afternoon sunshine. Assuming a standard search pattern, he quickly gained altitude and began to circle the gate in a slow, ever-expanding spiral. The interior of the little craft was a bit crowded with Lorne's team plus Drs. McKay, Miles, and Brown along for the ride. McKay had commandeered the seat just behind Lorne in the cockpit and was tapping on a portable tablet computer. Dr. Katie Brown was seated next to him behind the co-pilot's seat, and Lorne really hoped he would be able to keep from laughing at the way McKay was trying to incorporate a swagger into his awkward hunched-over posture.

"Bring up the Life signs detectors. Let's see if my modifications are going to do any good…"

If it were anyone but McKay, Lorne would have been annoyed by being told what to do on his own command. Scratch that: He found McKay annoying at the best of times, but Sheppard put enormous trust in the caustic physicist, so Lorne found it his duty to endure the man with good humor. Or at least endure the man. Triggering the mental command that brought the windshield in front of him to life with bright colors and overlapping diagrams, he could feel Rodney lean over his shoulder to peer more closely at the overload of information.

"That's a lot of life signs…" Lorne said simply, for just like the small palm LSD, the screen was overwhelmed with the number of dots being detected.

McKay tapped once more on his tablet, leaned over Lorne's shoulder insolently to twist a dial on the control panel, and the screen changed from a solid mass of yellow dots, to a couple dozen or so red and blue dots, many in little clusters of 2-4. They would occasionally change color from red to blue, blue to red. Now and then one would wink out for a moment only to reappear again. "What am I seeing here?" Lorne asked testily.

"I've reprogrammed the LSD to filter out all stationary life signs. The ones remaining are those signatures that, from the perspective of the surrounding environment, are in motion. Seeing as flowers don't typically migrate," McKay shot a sickeningly jovial look over at Dr. Brown, "I was kind of hoping that Ronon would be the only thing out there moving around."

"So these are other things out there moving around?" Lorne thought that was rather important information.

"Apparently. Teyla and I came across a dead creature before she became delusional. Some sort of indigenous canine. Perhaps these are its friends and family running around."

"Great. I don't suppose there's a way to tell the difference between human and canine from here, is there?"

"No, the sensors in the jumpers and palm devices aren't that sensitive… although this isn't the first time I've wondered why the Ancients didn't find that as annoying as we do."

"Maybe they didn't get in as much trouble all the time as we do," hypothesized Lorne, earning him a disgusted look from McKay, who was distracted a moment later by an urgent poke on the shoulder. Swiveling his chair slightly, Rodney threw the remnants of his expression at the tall, thin, non-descript man in science blues who was just reaching out to poke again.

"Excuse me, did you say you observed an indigenous canine on this planet?" Dr. Miles spoke with a light Australian accent and would tell anyone who asked, and some who didn't, that he was from New Zealand, not Australia. At the moment he was leaning into the front compartment with an expression of excited interest.

"A dead one." McKay answered as uninterested as the biologist was eager.

"I would love to examine the creature, maybe even bring it back to Atlantis for an autopsy and further study…"

"Do you think the creature could have some sort of immunity to whatever is affecting Colonel Sheppard's team?" Now that was worth the effort to find and examine a dead dog, thought Lorne!

"Um, well. No actually we just haven't seen any other mammals in the Pegasus galaxy yet that resembles the canine family and it would be fascinating to compare them to Earth species." He took a deep breath as if he was planning to continue his thought in full lecture mode.

"Sorry Doc," Lorne interrupted brusquely. "You can play science fair another day. This is a recon and recovery mission. If it ain't going to find or help our people, then we're not stopping." Usually he was all patience and well used to the quirks of working with civilians, especially civilian scientists who thought a lot of themselves. Lorne was often assigned escort duties, in part because of his easygoing nature. But that patience was non-existent today, his concern for his CO and colleagues overriding any coddling of ego he might otherwise attend to.

Dr. Miles looked mildly affronted, but returned to the rear with only a bit of a huff. Lorne shot McKay a look as if to say, "what's up with that guy?" and was pleased to see him squirm a bit. Usually Rodney was on the other side of the aisle so to speak, and Lorne thought it was good for him to sympathize with security for once.

After a moment, Rodney spoke, sounding awkwardly polite and looking nervously over at a slightly frowning Dr. Brown, "Teyla wanted to know what killed the creature and that was where she first fainted. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to examine the animal after all. We can do that and get the plant samples at the same time. We're only assuming the flowers are involved, so covering more bases couldn't hurt."

Lorne thought it through. Dr. Weir had impressed upon him that speed was critical for both Sheppard and (they assumed) Ronon. "Ok," he began slowly, "We'll split up. I'll drop you Doctors and two of my men by the dead dog to take samples and do whatever it is you want to do. Me and Stackhouse will take the jumper and chase down your moving dots. Hopefully Ronon won't be taking a nap and we'll find him that way. Where was the creature?"

"Little over a mile due South of the gate. And Major, you'll need everyone you've got to bring Ronon back if he's even half as delusional as Sheppard was. You should keep your team together, I'll secure the research area for Drs. Brown and Miles."

Managing just barely to avoid gagging like a 12-yr-old girl at the wholly pathetic arrogant smirk McKay threw at Katie, Lorne did have to admit that the man at least had a point. "Alright, I'll leave Jones with you good doctors and the rest of us will continue the search."

"Alright. If you really think that's necessary…"

"I do."

"Oh."

Lorne managed to find the carcass quickly, and landing the jumper in the flowers beside it he left the pilot's seat to join the group leaving through the rear hatch. Everyone, Lorne and the remaining team members included, had donned breathing filter masks. Although less bulky than fully shielded gas masks, the lightweight filters fit snugly over the mouth and nose. Cylindrical filter-tubes jutted out of the chin area and they all looked rather like a troop of two-legged bugs, mandibles poised to snatch up crumbs.

Dr. Miles immediately made a beeline for the interesting creature and Lorne exchanged an exasperated look with Jones who had to jog quickly to pass up the eager biologist and remind him that they needed to secure the perimeter first. Hanging back with Lorne and watching Katie Brown walk casually towards the creature, McKay hurriedly whispered to the Major once she was out of earshot, "You really think there's something dangerous around here besides the toxic happy-flowers?"

"You're the one who found the packs of wild dogs running around, McKay."

"Right. Wild dogs." Lorne chewed his lip trying not to snort as McKay looked nervously around them for a moment, then drew his 9mil to hold in an inexpert grip. "You, ah, sure you don't want to leave Walker too?"

Lorne grinned, clapped McKay on the back and pointed North. "The Stargate's only a mile in that direction. You get in trouble, radio me and head for the gate. You've got the control crystal with you. You can gate out if you have to."

"Right."

"Good luck."

"You too." And Lorne was certain that McKay was sincere. As annoying, arrogant, cowardly and generally unpleasant as he was, he was also loyal to a fault and had a knack for pulling off the impossible. Begrudging the thought only a little, he also had to admit that the man cared for his team. And that made Lorne all the more certain that Sheppard's trust was not misplaced.

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Ronon's memories overwhelmed him with visions of running from the Wraith, fighting the wraith, killing the wraith. Yet, he had been to so many worlds, run so far for so long, that the memories blurred together into one long run. The worlds he ran on in his visions tended to resemble the unpopulated and lonely P1C-270, and most of his mental energy was centered around staying hidden and keeping the proper distance from the Stargate.

For a runner, the Stargate was both prison and escape. If you stayed too close, you ran the risk of being surprised by a Wraith hunter. If you wandered too far, you left behind your only means of escape. For once the wraith did find you, find the planet you hid on, your only choices were to kill it or run to another planet. There was no hiding or waiting out the Wraith.

Ronon had survived so long on the run because he understood the game. He allowed no room for hope and simply endured. Hope made you careless, sloppy. And sloppy made you dead. That was, until Sheppard.

Even after a year of living on Atlantis, Ronon couldn't quite explain why he had trusted Sheppard that day they met…or rather that day he took him and Teyla hostage. The Atlantians were blocking the gate. He had to go through the gate. Capturing them was only necessary to surviving. But something about Sheppard had gotten through to the very small and deeply buried spot in Ronon's soul that still craved hope. If he were to be honest, he had thought Sheppard weak and careless, easily to be deceived and overpowered. Ronon accepted Sheppard's offer of help very much planning to get what he needed and leave. And if he didn't get what he needed, as he assumed would be the case, he'd be justified in killing them all and would leave anyway.

What he hadn't planned on was for Sheppard to return, for his Doctor to perform the miracle promised…and to remember the honor he had once proudly held dear. He'd kept his promise to Sheppard to try to bring Lt. Ford home. And then, with the freedom to go anywhere he wanted without being followed for the first time in seven years, he'd felt overwhelmed by the choice and followed Sheppard to Atlantis to buy himself time to think through his freedom.

In the intervening year, he'd learned that Sheppard's careless attitude came not from cowardice or negligence, but from a position of such strength that he could afford to be casual, and an unquenchable optimism that had not been driven out by jaded experience. In Ronon's opinion, Sheppard depended too much on his weapons and thought too much. But he had come through again and again, and Ronon found himself grudgingly awarding the man rare respect.

That was why, when the Stargate activated and Ronon perceived the jumper emerging to climb immediately into large sweeping arcs, a memory of trust and hope finally emerged through the endless memories of despair and survival.

Crouching low into a barely noticeable dip in the field surrounding the Stargate, Ronon had covered himself with grasses and rubbed mud made from spit and dust onto his face and arms. When he was still, he vanished into the landscape. Tracking the jumper through the sky, he watched it circle then land in the near distance. Ignoring the racing of his heart and the urge to run with absurd ease... he had long mastered the impulses of panic and fear…he lay in wait, drawn to the symbol of hope and home that the jumper represented.

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Sheppard ran. And for a short while, the running relieved the sensations of panic. But the memories that overwhelmed him were of betrayal and rage.

_"Phoebus?"_

_"It's alright. These people recovered our pods. We may well be the very last of our kind. These generous people have allowed us to be together one last time."_

_"You consented to this?" Thalen turned to Caldwell and McKay, his face a placid, calculating mask._

_"One last chance, to say goodbye to my husband."_

_Sheppard watched from behind his own eyes as Phoebus/Elizabeth stepped close and kissed him with cold, humiliating passion. He screamed at Thalen to trust his people, to let them stop Phoebus before she hurt anyone. Thalen only laughed at him and Sheppard could feel Thalen's thrill of excitement and smoldering rage as the hunt began._

Elizabeth had betrayed him. No, wait…she was Phoebus…

Elizabeth would strap him into an infirmary bed to die.

But Elizabeth would never hurt him. He trusted her. She was Phoebus?

A sharp pain jolted through John's chest and gasping, he fell to his knees. The metallic clang as he dropped compelled him to look around. He was on the catwalk in an unpopulated, difficult to reach corner of Atlantis and for another moment, he closed his eyes against a parade of visions of jogging with Ronon. Yet, the memories were pleasant, calming, feeling of comfortable daily routine and silent unassuming companionship.

When he opened his eyes again, the pain was fading, although a dull lingering ache remained. Resting in a brief moment of lucidity, he allowed himself to think of nothing. He realized he was still holding the stunner he had stolen from the guard in the infirmary, and he idly wondered if he still had his radio on. Reaching up to tap his ear, he felt the small piece of plastic and electronics and instinctively called out to the people he knew could help…

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Elizabeth watched in horror as John ran out of the infirmary and into the corridors beyond. She was stunned by his abrupt burst into violence and was momentarily rooted to the spot, still overwhelmed by the look on his face as he had dropped to his knees before her. She wasn't sure exactly what memory he'd been seeing as he'd looked up at her with defiant terror, but she had an inkling. She had read his mission report after spending several days as captive on Ford's Hive ship. But his report had only mentioned that he'd spoken with the queen of the Hive. It had not described the fear, nor being driven to his knees during the interrogation.

"I'm sorry Elizabeth," Carson's voice was thick with self-rebuke. He helped heave the stunned guard to his feet and coaxed him to tilt his head back to stop the flow from his bloodied nose. "Whatever is affecting the Colonel stimulates hormones that very much resemble a 'fight or flight' survival response…"

"We seem to have allowed him to do both." Elizabeth's voice was cold. She turned away from Carson to tap her radio headset. "Security, this is Weir…" but she paused after opening the channel. Clearly John was capable of reacting to threat, imagined and real. Who knew what he would do or where he would run if confronted by a full pursuit force…or who he would hurt if he believed them to be enemies. Thinking quickly, she continued, "Security, organize a small search party and meet me in my office for instructions in 10 minutes."

Next she purposefully strode out of the same door John had run through calling for Carson to follow her. When she reached the control room, she stepped to the communications station and commanded briskly, "Open a citywide channel…" When the technician nodded at her, she paused for only a moment to gather her thoughts then spoke into the receiving microphone. Her voice echoed throughout the city, and the command in her tone caused everyone to pause in their work, listening carefully.

"All personnel, this is Weir. As of now, the city is under a voluntary quarantine lockdown, but there is no, I repeat NO medical emergency. A member of our expedition is lost and…injured within the city. We hope to use sensors to track him down, but this will be impossible to do unless everyone stays out of the hallways and for the time being limits their movement. Your cooperation is appreciated. Weir out."

Elizabeth nodded at the technician as she finished and hurried purposefully to her office, ignoring the questioning look he shot her as he closed the broadcast. She had considered and rejected the idea of alerting everyone to watch for Sheppard in the hopes that someone would spot and report him. On the one hand, he might react badly if people behaved suspiciously around him, and on the other…he would no doubt appreciate the discretion.

Carson was still tagging along, looking confused about why he was here, but Elizabeth ignored him for the moment too and sat quickly at her desk to begin tapping at her tablet, opening documents and searching through directories. Carson sat down morosely in the chair across from her and she felt a sudden pang of sadness as she remembered John sitting just there only hours ago, smirking with good humor and planning an easy hike with his team…

When the security team entered, Elizabeth finally turned her attention to the group in her office. She was pleased to see that the men on the search team were some of the original expedition members. Like her, they had been through a lot with Sheppard, and were some of his most loyal men. She briefly explained the situation and let them ask their questions. Then she fixed them with a stern look. "Colonel Sheppard's condition makes him dangerously unaware of his surroundings. He may not recognize you. He may respond with violence to being pursued or confronted. I've asked for a small team so you can work quickly and help me guide him into a position where we can coax him into returning to the infirmary. However, if he becomes a threat to you or to anyone else on the base, you are to apprehend him with physical force or stun him..."

Carson suddenly sat up and interrupted, "I wouldn't advise stunning, Elizabeth. His heart is already under incredible stress from the tachycardia…"

Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly, then met the eyes of Lt. Edison. "You have your orders, Lieutenant." She shot a warning look at Carson who was looking mutinous before finishing her instructions to the search team. "Stay in radio contact. I'll be trying to talk him home through the radio, Carson believes he was still wearing his headset when he left the infirmary."

"Yes, ma'am." Edison turned briskly to his team. "Toreil, you go get the sensors set up. The rest of us will begin a standard search pattern from the infirmary. You can advise us if you spot something."

"Yes, sir…"

"Carson?" John's voice whispering through the radio was hoarse and out of breath. Elizabeth saw Carson signal wildly and touch his earpiece. She pounced on her own headset to listen in as did Edison. Carson replied soothingly.

"Yes, Colonel. I'm here. Where are you son? You gave us quite a scare running off like that." They waited expectantly for John's reply.

"My name is Major John Sheppard and I have hidden the C4 where you will never, I repeat, NEVER find it. When I get confirmation that the prisoners have been safely released and allowed to gate off Atlantis, I will help you find it."

Edison's team exchanged puzzled looks before Edison waved off Toreil to the sensors as planned. Elizabeth thought furiously. If she could figure out which memory John was reliving, perhaps she could use it to anticipate where he might be, or go next. Suddenly it hit her… Kolya. Not the best memory, she had to admit… John had wreaked a lot of havoc trying to free her and Rodney from Kolya who'd held them hostage during the hurricane. But it was something.

"Colonel Sheppard, you need to return to the infirmary. I promise you won't be harmed, and you can walk about if you wish. We won't restrain you. You have my promise…" Carson still spoke calmly and persuasively as Elizabeth frantically searched through her folders to find and open John's report on the incident with Kolya's strike force on Atlantis.

"Wait a minute. I thought all you wanted was C4 and a Jumper." John continued the conversation as if Carson had suddenly turned into Kolya himself and Carson shot Elizabeth an exasperated look of help.

"Grounding station three," Elizabeth whispered to herself, reading frantically. "Kolya told him to go to grounding station three after he hid the C4." Catching Edison's eye, she touched her own earpiece again. "John? Kolya wants you to go to the Grounding station and uncouple the grounding rods at station three. Can you do that?"

"Don't hurt her. If you hurt Elizabeth, I'll kill you." John's voice was raspy with fury and Elizabeth blushed a bit then whispered to Edison.

"Take your men to grounding station three. The last time Sheppard was there, he killed two Genii soldiers so be careful. Try to convince him to return to the infirmary…"

"Yes, ma'am!" Edison strode sharply out of her office and hustled his team away.

"John. I'm OK. Just go to the grounding station." Elizabeth hoped to soothe his remembered fears and prevent him from feeling threatened like before. She looked at Carson and they exchanged hopeful glances. Only empty static met her pleas. 


	5. Chapter 5

John paced for several minutes after speaking to Carson and Elizabeth. Up and down the catwalk, the metal platform and supports rang with every step. Flashes of memory from Kolya's invasion assaulted him, but he was confused as to what to do next. The part of him that continued to fight for control was getting weaker, worn down by the effort and the exhaustion his over-stimulated body was nearing.

Elizabeth wanted him to go the grounding station. But Elizabeth was Phoebus. He'd taken Thalen to the catwalk too… He trusted Elizabeth. Elizabeth had deceived him in the infirmary.

Growling with frustration, he sank into the memories and for the moment allowed them to carry him along.

The hallways were empty in the part of the city that grounding station three was situated in, far from the central control tower and most of the main populated areas. And yet, Sheppard slowed as he approached the door to the balcony that overlooked the ocean at the end of this pier. Cautiously, he edged closer to the wall of the hallway. With a preparatory breath, he lunged through the opening to sweep his weapon across the small space with a practiced motion. It was empty and only the noise of gently lapping waves against the city far below reached his ears.

He lowered the stunner slightly and took a step closer to the grounding station's console noticing that it had been damaged and long ago repaired, but not understanding the implications. _"B. You damaged the switch before I could separate the grounding rods, which I'm sure you're gonna get an earful from McKay for…"_ He whispered the words to himself, staring down at the exposed wires and patches. At a sudden prickle of sensation along his spine, he whirled to see Lt. Edison standing in the doorway, blocking his path back into the hall.

Edison had his weapons holstered and his hands raised in a casual pose. John hesitated at the lack of threat in the man's stance. "Sir, Dr. Weir would really like you to come back to the city and meet her in the infirmary." Edison's voice was calm and unconcerned, not even particularly urgent. Just a soldier relaying a message to his commander.

Sheppard continued to pause, considering the request, and his weapon dropped even lower. Until…

John caught just a glimpse of one of Edison's men hovering outside the door, listening and ready to strike if needed. With barely an instant's hesitation, he fired point-blank into Edison's chest and before the man hit the ground, John had spun himself into the wall out of sight next to the door. Involuntarily taking a step towards his team leader as he crumpled, the other hapless soldier never saw John's hand dart out to yank him through the door and throw him with a somersaulting slam into the ground. A moment later, he was also stunned, lying nearly on top Edison.

Panting with the exertion and rush of combat, John warily swept the corridor before exiting the room himself, then with a purposeful jog, he turned back towards the main part of the city.

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"Dr. Weir? This is Mitchelson. Colonel Sheppard stunned Lt. Edison and Abramowicz and escaped the grounding station. The Lieutenant ordered me to follow him discreetly if they should be compromised, but I lost him at a transporter. Toreil says he must have gone to a populated area of the base because he's also lost his individual signature on the sensors…"

Elizabeth sighed deeply. "Understood, Mitchelson. Are Edison and Abramowicz injured?"

"No ma'am. Just stunned. They'll be out for a few more minutes, but they're OK otherwise."

"Good, that's something at least. Toreil, keep scanning. Look for a moving signature in hallways and corridors, everyone else should still be observing quarantine in residences and labs. As soon as the others recover, continue your search on foot."

A pair of "Yes Ma'am"s rang crisply through the radio and in frustration Elizabeth shoved her chair back and slapped her hands on her desk.

"The Colonel is a very fine soldier…" Carson admitted, also sounding anxious, papers spread around him and another tablet computer tossed on the desk. He too had been searching through the reports that Elizabeth had pulled for clues to what John might do next.

"Yes, he is. Damn him."

"Shoud we try something else? Trigger some other memory that's not quite so…aggressive?"

Elizabeth thought for a moment. "No, we at least know it's working to some degree. We were able to anticipate where he went and that particular memory is so centered in Atlantis, we're more likely to keep him moving through it. He might jump through several other memories before we could find another one he can stick with." She tapped her fingers on the smooth desktop in agitation. Reading through the report she herself had written after Kolya's invasion had brought her own memories too close to the surface. She had been terrified of Kolya, as much as she hated to admit the weakness.

At the time, John's defiant acts of sabotage had given her hope. She'd had to put all her trust in his abilities to outwit the invaders and somehow save both her and the city. He had not disappointed her. Yet she still had nightmares sometimes about being pulled through the gate wrapped in Kolya's mad embrace. She always shook off the dream by forcing herself to recall that instead, John had appeared out of the shadows and with savage calm, shot Kolya off her back and into the Stargate alone…

She sat bolt upright, frozen in place as a thought occurred to her.

"Carson, I think I have an idea!" He looked up at her with expectant hopefulness…and then the lights went out.

With a grinding moan of equipment protesting the sudden loss of power, everything in the control room shut down. A babble of surprised exclamation reached them as the control room technicians were startled out of their work. They sat in darkness for several long moments.

"Dr. Weir! This is Sergeant Hicks. Someone just stunned the guards at the Control Tower generator station and disabled the Naquadah generator!"

"Understood, Hicks…" she was at a loss for what to say next.

"Should we switch over to ZPM power?" Another voice yelled into her office from the doorway. One of the technicians stood there looking a little frightened. They usually ran the basic systems off their own generators to save ZPM power for the high-energy but critical tasks such as gating to Earth and deploying the full-city shield.

"No. We'll wait a bit before switching over." The puzzled tech shuffled back to his darkened post. Elizabeth took a breath and was about to speak when she was interrupted again…

"Dr. Weir? Mitchelson. I just got to the Control Tower generator station, following a sensor signature we thought might be the Colonel. So unless we have another saboteur running around, Sheppard seems to have taken the generator's stabilizing rod with him after stunning the guards at the door. It also looks like he took some weapons off them. A P-90 and a 9 mil with holster are missing."

Overwhelmed, Elizabeth dropped her elbows onto the desk and buried her face in her hands.

Through the dim light barely filtering in through the stained glass of the gate room, Carson raised his eyebrow at her and said pointedly, "That idea of yours, Elizabeth. I really hope it's a good one."

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Rodney had to admit he was bored. Excruciatingly, mind-numbingly bored. Dr. Miles and Dr. Brown chattered on happily as they slowly and carefully inspected the dead canine and the tiny satellite-dish flowers. McKay found himself in fact standing for long periods with Jones and wondered when he'd become someone who found the company of military grunts more interesting than other scientists. Granted they were scientists from a field he found completely uninteresting and useless, except right now of course. And he could admit that even he, Rodney McKay couldn't know everything about everything so it was reasonable that others could and should study the lesser sciences. But he didn't really want to stand around and watch them do it.

He was also surprised at how naïve and disrespectful Miles and Brown seemed towards Jones and the other security escorts. Surely _he_ had never been that annoying? Sheppard had chosen him for his team from the beginning, he had been a little green perhaps on those first missions, but rude? Never…

After a half hour of watching Miles poke at the creature, Rodney tried watching the landscape for living versions of their furry dead friend. He thought he caught a glimpse of one or two in the distance, loping after, or away from, the ever present dust-devil funnels. Then when that grew old, he watched Dr. Brown digging carefully into the soil and gently repotting one or two of the curious flowers into specimen cups. That at least was a bit distracting… Dr. Brown was very pretty… and he managed to catch her eye once or twice and smile smugly at her, pretending to stand guard.

After Lorne checked in for the third time with no sightings of Ronon, McKay finally lost his patience and, forgetting he'd been trying to impress Katie just a moment before, he stomped over to her and asked petulantly, "Well? Have you figured anything out yet?" His friends were in trouble after all.

Dr. Brown looked surprised but chose to ignore the brusque tone and she answered enthusiastically, "Yes, in fact. These plants do indeed seem to be thermogenic, the leaves and even the flowers are maintaining a temperature a degree or two above the surrounding environment. Quite fascinating. Also, their method of propagation is very unusual. They seem to expend the extra heat energy on a creative way to disburse their seeds and pollen simultaneously, rather than in two steps like most flowering plants."

"No pollinators," Dr. Miles chimed in, stepping over to join them.

"Yes! Nathan observed that there are no flies or insects invading the dead animal. Flowers on this planet cannot depend on insect pollinators and so they've evolved other ways to generate genetic variation."

"Teyla noticed the lack of flies…" Rodney tried to get a word in, but Miles cut over him, warming to his topic and his audience.

"The canine's fur is covered in these seeds and pollens, so perhaps we're looking at a symbiotic relationship between these species."

"Yes, but what is the benefit to the canines? They are clearly carnivorous, so what evolutionary benefit could the plants offer them…?"

"I'm sure this is very interesting speculation, but have you figured out what killed the thing yet!" Rodney had to speak loudly to interrupt the debate long enough to ask his question. "And is any of this going to help Colonel Sheppard and Teyla!"

"As far as I can tell without an autopsy," Dr. Miles sounded a bit huffy at the interruption, "the creature has no serious external wounds, although it had been in a fight or two just before it died, probably with another of its own kind, perhaps over territory or prey. It seems a bit malnourished, so it may have just been a weak member of the species. I'd guess it died from internal organ failure or a cardiac event brought on by disease or a congenital defect."

"Or brought on by poisonous flowers that elevate the heart rate and blood pressure?" Rodney's voice was stern. He didn't like the direction the speculation was taking now. If the dead canine were evidence of the potency of the toxin Teyla and Sheppard had been exposed to, they needed to stop speculating and get to some serious solutions.

Missing the connection, Dr. Miles looked thoughtful before answering the question Rodney had considered mostly rhetorical… "If there is a symbiotic relationship here, and the plants depend on the canines to spread their seeds in the fur, it would be very illogical for the plant to also poison the creature and kill it."

"Far be it from me to second guess the mind of a plant, but illogical or not, we need to get these samples to Dr. Beckett. We can ask the plants later what the hell they were thinking…"

Rodney was about to reach down to begin grabbing up equipment and call in Lorne to take them home when Katie interrupted, "We should probably get a sample of a plant that has not yet dispersed its seeds and pollen!" At McKay's exasperated expression, she went on hastily and put a soothing hand on his arm. "I really think it would help Dr. Beckett find a cure to recover a plant with its seeds and pollen intact, rather than trying to get samples of it off the creature or our own clothing. Look!" And she bent down to hold up a cup of one of the plants she had carefully transplanted from the ground. Carefully touching the single oval petal of the flower, she pinched the edges together, rolling them slightly to form a neat enclosed cone.

"The seeds develop within the enclosed petal, and then, I'm guessing, are released in a burst to expel the contents as far and fast as possible." She waved grandly at a very close dust-devil, whirling playfully along the ground. "I'd even bet the dust-devils are created when a group of flowers burst in sync."

"Dogs!" Rodney said loudly, looking towards the funnel.

"Yes! Dr. Miles enthused just as loudly, perhaps the dogs somehow trigger the synchronous bursts, thereby exposing themselves to the seeds…"

"No! I mean… DOGS!" And this time Rodney pointed.

A small pack of the furry brown canines had appeared out of the field between the group of Atlantians and the nearby dust-devil. Two of the creatures were circling aggressively and snarling at one another. One was slightly larger than the other, but both were the same shade of bear-brown and their hackles were raised into stiff bristles all along their backs. The third animal was watching the activity warily, head held low and alert, but apparently waiting for the others to finish their quarrel. It shook its head, looking almost confused and yowled plaintively before sitting on its haunches and watching again.

Jones stepped quickly between the creatures and the group of scientists, holding his P-90 at the ready, and quipped quickly over his shoulder, "We should probably get some distance from those guys, in case they decide to pick a fight with us next…"

For just a moment the rest stood frozen until Jones shot McKay a look and with a jump he drew his own handgun and also stepped forward…just a bit. "Grab the samples and whatever you can carry and run with at the same time. We'll move closer to the gate in case we need it."

Responding to McKay's urging at last, Dr. Miles and Katie quickly stooped to grab their gear and as a group they began to edge away from the creatures. They hadn't made it 10 steps when the two aggressive animals stopped circling and lunged at each other, soon locked in ferocious, teeth barred, fur flying battle. They both, mostly likely males, weighed at least 150 pounds and were powerfully built.

Quickening their pace but warned by Dr. Miles not to run and attract the animals' attention, they continued walking towards the gate, watching warily. The battle ended fairly quickly. The victorious male, clearly having overpowered its competitor with size and weight, snapped at its haunches and drove it further away. Tail tucked, the loser snarled back but ran a few steps before shaking its head as the other had done. It looked almost like it was intoxicated as it flapped its pointed ears and staggered a few steps, then ran again at another nip on the rear.

Rodney suddenly exclaimed, "They're under the influence of the flowers too. Those dogs are as loopy as Sheppard and Teyla!"

"Loopy and coming right at us!" Jones had turned worriedly back towards the loser who was loping in their direction, still staggering a bit. Confirming Jones' fear, it soon caught sight of the group that had instinctively frozen in the presence of the predator. Changing its stance to a stalking crouch, the canine sniffed the air and began a slow predatory creep towards them. Unconsciously backing away and moving shoulder to shoulder in front of Dr. Brown and Dr. Miles, Jones and McKay aimed their weapons steadily.

"I'm going to lay down warning fire, McKay," Jones whispered. "Maybe that will frighten it off."

The creature lowered into an even deeper crouch and Dr. Miles said "I wouldn't…" just as Jones pointed his P-90 at the ground in between them and the animal and fired a couple of short bursts into the ground. The creature startled, then with an almighty barking yowl of the hunt, it lunged suddenly at Jones with terrifying speed and agility.

With no time to think, McKay and Jones both fired point blank into the hurtling mass of fur. Its momentum carried it onto Jones and knocked him to the ground and Rodney was on the verge of firing again into the creature's chest when Jones gasped out, "Don't McKay! It's dead… you'll hit _me_…" Trembling, McKay lowered his weapon and saw that indeed the creature was motionless, pinning Jones down but no longer snarling and biting.

"You OK?" McKay offered Jones a hand up after he heaved the carcass off his chest.

"Um, yeah. Think it might have busted a rib or two though," the breathy quality of Jones' answer gave credence to the speculation, and he pressed an elbow into his side with a slight wince. "Radio Lorne and tell him we're getting out of here. I'd rather try to make it to the gate than wait here." As he spoke, an answering yowl from behind them drew chills down their backs. It in turn was answered by a barking yip from yet another direction. Jones and McKay exchanged a worried look, "Tell him we're going NOW."


	6. Chapter 6

Sheppard slid down the wall in the dark abandoned corridor and sat clenching and unclenching his fists around the P-90's smooth metal casing. His hip felt comfortably warm with the 9 mil and holster strapped to it. The ache in his chest throbbed with each hammering beat of his heart, and the stab of pain this time was lower, deep in his belly. He gasped and, breathing deeply, rolled his head back to rest it against the cool bronze paneling. But the physical pain was secondary to the anguish he was reliving in his memories…

"_I'm not finished yet!" _

"_Neither am I. Say goodbye to Doctor Weir." Kolya's voice was frighteningly determined, and oh so calm._

"_Kolya! I'll give you a ship. I'll fly it out of here for you myself…" With suffocating panic, John realized that he'd lost control of the situation and that Kolya was more ruthless and murderous than he'd anticipated. That mistake was about to cost Elizabeth her life and John could feel it, like his own heart was being shot into._

"Kolya!" The scream tore from John's throat as he sat. He dropped his head onto his knees, no longer knowing or caring if the shaking of his hands was from his deteriorating physical condition or from the fury he was experiencing within.

"Major Sheppard. How's this for credibility. Weir's dead."

"_I am going to kill you." John bit out every word, making the declaration a terrible oath._

"Maybe. Stay out of my way or McKay will join her."

Staggering to his feet, John had to place a bracing hand against the wall for a moment to regain his equilibrium. The ache was spreading into his shoulders and arms. Head held low for a long moment, he paused, and his hand drifted to his ear. The impulse to call for help was strong. Carson would help. Elizabeth would help him.

But Elizabeth was dead.

Choking back a sob of grief the fury won over, and fueled by a renewed determination, he shouldered his P-90 with an angry snap and set out to fulfill his oath. He no longer cared about Atlantis. Let the damn storm take it, and him with it.

He was out for revenge…

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Elizabeth sat for only a moment longer. When she stood, every line in her body radiated determination.

First, she poked once at her tablet, confirming the information she needed, then briskly tapped at her earpiece. Speaking rapidly, she simultaneously began a purposeful stride into the darkened control room… "Security, this is Weir. I want all security personnel to arm themselves with stunners only and deploy to Theta formation. Colonel Sheppard is to be stunned on sight, code Foothold-Thalen. Be advised, he is armed and dangerous. Contact Dr. Carson Beckett or myself immediately if Sheppard is seen or apprehended."

It had been Sheppard's idea to prepare a security protocol to quickly alert city security should another situation ever arise similar to the Phoebus/Thalen incident. They had been too slow before, and confused in their messages on why and how and who to apprehend when the enemy looked just like, was in fact, one of their own. John had also christened the protocol's code-name, and at the time she thought it rather dark humor. Now it seemed all too frighteningly appropriate. She should have initiated the code immediately, she knew now in retrospect. She had so been hoping John could be talked in without disrupting the whole city…

When she reached the control room, she began barking orders to the technicians. "Switch over all systems to ZPM power, but leave the control room dark. Shut down and lock down under code all systems except incoming gate travel and shield controls. Then… I want everyone out of here into the cafeteria in 10 minutes." She almost smiled at the simultaneous blank stares of a room full of confused people and added more softly, "You heard me people." They hurried to comply.

"Dr. Weir, this is Lt. Edison. Do you want my team to continue to search for the Colonel?"

"Lieutenant! It's good to hear you've recovered." Pleased to hear his voice, Elizabeth cupped her hand over her ear in the gesture she used to indicated to others she was listening to her receiver…

"Yes, ma'am… Me and Abramowicz are feeling the pins and needles, but we're ready to continue."

"I have a special job for your team. Join me in the gate room as soon as you can. Weir out."

Stepping back to watch the activity around her, she shot a grim smile at Carson who stepped up next to her, as confused as everyone else, but like everyone else, trusting in her leadership.

"Carson?" She said at last, allowing the worry to creep into her voice… "Is John really in danger from a stunner hit?"

Carson sighed and shook his head sadly. "In a perfect world, I wouldn't risk it, especially since he's been running around for so long, unmonitored. We don't know what condition he's in at the moment really. We do know that a stun is quite a jolt on the nervous system…and the cardiac and pulmonary systems are both intimately dependent upon the nervous system." He trailed off, realizing he was not really answering her question.

Elizabeth nodded, still watching the control room. Finally she said, not looking at the doctor, "Send two of our paramedics to the gateroom as quickly as they can get here. You can wait for us in the infirmary. We'll bring John to you." The matter-of-fact tone in her voice told Carson that she didn't intend to fail in that promise. But she clenched her hands tightly and crossed her arms as she added… "I really don't see how we'll be able to avoid stunning him so…be ready."

"Yes, Elizabeth. What if he's confronted before he reaches the gate room?"

She did smile at that. "No, He's too good. And although he's reliving memories, he's also adapting to his environment… He found another way of getting weapons without raiding the jumpers. He'll make it here."

Carson nodded sadly and she watched him stride purposefully away, glancing nervously down at the shadowy form of the Stargate. "Come on, John" she whispered to herself, "We're waiting for you…"

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"We'll be there in two-zero minutes… we landed the jumper to track some signatures on foot so it'll take us that long to get back to it and then fly back to you." Lorne sounded frustrated, and Rodney could tell he was already running by the rhythmic jerk of his breath as he replied.

"Hopefully we'll be gone by then, but in case the dogs slow us down, we appreciate the backup. McKay out."

Rodney was jogging himself, just behind Katie Brown and Dr. Miles who was in the lead. Jones brought up their six, but McKay was keeping a close eye on the marine, too, who was grimacing as every rapid step jostled his injured ribs. A few more yips and barks had sounded around them, but they hadn't seen any more creatures for the two or three minutes they'd been running.

Katie slowed down and drew even with McKay who finally noticed she was trying to get his attention, albeit coyly and with subtle glances. _Why doesn't she just ask me what she wants?_ He thought crossly, giving her his best "yeah what" look and trying to keep an eye on Jones and Miles at the same time.

"I just wanted to say… you were very brave when that mad dog attacked."

"Oh." Was all he could come up with, suddenly flushing and forgetting all about Jones and Miles.

"Working offworld is very different than doing research on Atlantis, isn't it?"

"I suppose. There's more running from mad dogs, getting shot at by Wraith, and being kidnapped by angry natives at least." He meant the words sarcastically, but instead of looking insulted, Katie only beamed more admiringly and McKay blushed again. He had no idea what to say next. They were after all…running away from mad dogs on a planet of poisonous flowers. Taking in her appreciative glances, though, he puffed up a little and decided that in fact he _was_ very brave…

"Stop!" Dr. Miles had come to an abrupt halt, and the rest stumbled around him surprised. Pointing, he whispered, "Two more canines up ahead. They're hunting…"

McKay pushed forward a step and finally spotted the two creatures. When they crouched low and moved in a slow stalk, they were difficult to see.

"McKay… behind us…" Jones panted out the words and Rodney whirled to see two more trailing in the path of bent grass and squashed petals they'd just walked through.

"They're displaying pack behaviors, hunting in groups and encircling their prey. Very interesting. Based on their build and teeth, I would have guessed they were lone scavengers, more closely related to hyenas than wolves…"

"Shut up Miles!" Rodney burst out. They drew closer together as a third hunting pair emerged from a clump of brush. "Tell us what to do about them! Can we scare them off?"

"Because that worked really well the first time," Miles' tone was dripping with sarcasm. "If Rambo, there, hadn't startled it, the creature might have moved on along, not recognizing our scent as prey." Luckily Jones was too distracted by keeping the rear creatures in his sights and trying to ignore painful bruised ribs to really hear the implied insult. McKay however was furious.

"Oh, that's really helpful, Miles, and easy for you to say as you were cowering behind the man at the time!"

"Doctors!" Jones suddenly turned and thrust his P-90 into Rodney's hands, flipping up a flap of his vest pocket and pulling out a grenade-like device. "I've got a couple of flash-bangs, McKay. I'll toss one at the two behind us, you try to kill the two in our path."

"What about the other two?" Rodney's anger vanished in a puff, to be replaced by nervous fear. Terror actually. He wasn't a very good shot at that distance, and was only just getting the feel of the larger automatic weapon at Sheppard's urging.

"I'll let Dr. Miles lure them away as bait while we escape…"

"Ok." Grinning at Jones in appreciation of the man's evil subtlety, Rodney shifted the heavy weapon in his hands a bit to situate himself, then turned towards the forward stalking dogs. He was thoroughly enjoying the affronted spluttering coming from Dr. Miles direction, and almost laughed out loud when the man finally asked, somewhat sheepishly, "He's just joking… right?"

They waited for a moment or two longer, optimistically hoping the dogs might just lose interest and lope away, then… "Now, McKay!"

Jones let fly the flash-bang and it landed neatly at the feet of the two nearest creatures. 3 seconds later an almighty BANG sounded followed by pained yelping. McKay pulled the trigger on the P-90… and nothing happened. "What the?" he yelped himself, then… "Oh, yeah," and he thumbed off the safety, raised the weapon again and this time when he pulled the trigger, the weapon bucked with a satisfying burst of fire. Wildly sweeping the muzzle around in the general direction of the two dogs he was supposed to kill, he silently hoped that the law of averages would work in his favor and that surely he would hit something if he just fired long enough….and that Katie was watching him being very brave again…

A second BANG rent the air, this time off to the East, and when the ringing in his ears stopped, McKay could finally hear Jones yelling, "Knock it off McKay! You got them for crying out loud."

He let his finger off the trigger and saw that, sure enough, the forward two dogs were lying in a heap and motionless. "I got them!" He repeated uselessly.

"Yes, and the others ran off for now. Let's move people. We still have ¾ of a mile to go."

Feeling his swagger was earned this time, Rodney tossed the P-90 back into Jones' waiting hands and gallantly motioned Katie on ahead of him, resuming their previous formation.

Now, if the law of averages would work out in their favor one more time, they'd be home in 10 minutes, triumphantly handing Carson the samples that would cure Sheppard and save the day. Imagining the victorious scene, Rodney jogged happily towards the Stargate.


	7. Chapter 7

The Control Room was still dark, and nearly empty. Elizabeth looked around at the space with one last sweep of her eyes and shot a look at the very last technician who was just finishing his station lock-down. The tech was about to walk away, when, with a brief double-take at the readouts on his semi-glowing panel, he returned Elizabeth's gaze and said, "Generator station 2 just went offline… someone shut down another naquadah generator…" 

Elizabeth only nodded and the tech finally shuffled away, "Good…" she breathed to herself. That meant John was still on course.

When she was certain that everyone had left and the room was empty, she jogged down the wide beautiful steps into the lower gateroom platform and took her place just in front of the silent Stargate. Nervously she peered into the shadowy space under the stairs and into the also-darkened hallways that led off towards the infirmary and other rooms of the tower. She could just barely see a couple of Edison's men crouched in waiting positions, holding stunners at the ready. The two wary paramedics were a bit more obvious, their anxious looks revealing their discomfort with the combat-like situation. She gave them a reassuring nod, then waved them deeper into the shadows until they were also out of sight completely.

With a deep breath, she thought through her plan one last time and then tapped her headset. "John?" She spoke calmly and somewhat softly. They had switched radio frequencies throughout security so that John couldn't hear her giving orders, and now they couldn't hear her talking to John. "Kolya's sending for reinforcements. More Genii are going to come through the gate. You have to stop them…" She winced at the last, not really wanting to motivate him into the violence he'd had to wield the last time. But she wanted to give him a nudge in this direction. Make sure he was sticking with the memory that would bring him to the gateroom, and, God willing, bring him down the steps to her… again.

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John was silently crouched at a corner, peering around it down long bronze and teal corridor. He'd been watching the pair of security guards unnoticed for several minutes, stationed outside one of the larger and more sensitive research labs. He'd been hesitating, even though the grief and rage drove him to kill any and all Genii he encountered, some deep reserve of control had held him back. It would be ridiculously easy to surprise them, he thought, caressing his P-90 unconsciously. Still he hesitated.

"John? Kolya's sending for reinforcements…" Elizabeth's voice spoke softly into his ear, but at the moment he didn't quite recognize it as hers. Elizabeth was dead. But he understood. He had to get to the Stargate and somehow stop them from letting even more Genii soldiers through.

With one last glance at the still unwary guards, Sheppard creeped away and found another route to the gateroom…

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Elizabeth paced across the gate room floor, looked at her watch, paced some more. Worried she had missed something, or that John had skipped into other memories, she kept glancing anxiously up at the DHD and shield controls looking for a glimpse of him. She kept telling herself that he would come. After disabling the 2nd generator, he had gone to the gateroom to raise the shield and stop Kolya's reinforcements. He had to come.

She looked at her watch again. And looked up at the control room again.

Her heart leaped when she caught a faint shadow moving stealthily among the Ancient controls, but she hadn't heard anything, so she wasn't sure. John could be quiet in boots and full battle gear… with bare feet and nothing but a T-shirt over pants, he was silence incarnate.

Finally certain that he was in fact skulking about the upper deck, she risked calling out a hesitant "Hey!" hoping to draw his attention and begin to coax his memories into the later version she wanted…

With frightening speed, John popped up over the railing, leveled his weapon at the gateroom floor and opened fire.

Realizing her mistake she had only an instant to throw herself to one side and scramble closer to the stairs, out of his line of sight and fire. Panting and letting slip a curse that impressed Lt. Edison as he scuttled up beside her, she struggled to shake off the near miss. Furiously waving Edison back into hiding, she called out to John, hoping he would hear her, and that he was still there… "John! Wait! It's me. It's Elizabeth!"

Another round of fire showering sparks into the gateroom floor at least reassured her that he was still around. For the moment she was at a loss, and frightened of showing herself…

A moment's low rumble and then a slight flash of the Stargate's luminous chevrons dragged her attention towards it. Incoming wormhole, she thought to herself? What else could go wrong…

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With a last flourish of button poking, John finished locking in his command codes that would seal the gate and keep the shield up indefinitely. Urged by the memories, he turned to dash back into the city towards his next shadowy, uncertain task…

The Stargate hummed, then sang it's mechanical song as chevrons locked rapidly one by one. Culminating in a splash of reaching energy, the gate opened a connection and then sat quietly gurgling sparkles of light into the otherwise dim space. Distracted, John halted before taking his first step, mesmerized by the sounds and flashes. He touched the shield control and it too hummed into life.

He'd done it. The Genii couldn't get through.

Remembering that he should run, should try to leave the gateroom, he instead stood transfixed by the blue-white flicker. Image after image after image flashed by as the memories of countless Stargates on countless worlds opened before his eyes…

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Rodney's swagger had developed into a full-blown strut as his breathless group finally reached the lonely looking Stargate that stuck up out of the otherwise featureless field and its DHD. With a grin and a pompous command to "Hold on a moment while I reinsert the control crystal…" he dropped to a squat in front of the device that would activate the gate and send them home.

"Just hurry…" muttered Jones, taking up a sentry position at McKay's back and sweeping the plains restlessly with his eyes and weapon's muzzle. Dr. Brown and Dr. Jones stumbled up to the stone platform underneath the Stargate and sat down, looking hot and disgruntled.

"Why?" McKay was feeling nonchalant and immensely self-satisfied. "Any more dog-things show up, we'll just show them who's Alpha!" Amused at his cleverness, he finally got the panel door open and was digging in his pocket for the crystal.

"Because, McKay, you used up my entire clip." He waggled the P-90, then let it drop against his chest in disgust. "All we've got left to show those dogs "who's Alpha" with is a pair of 9 mils. And you're a lousy shot. Besides… I've got a bad feeling. Like someone's watching me. Just hurry…" he repeated.

Suddenly anything but amused, Rodney hurriedly shoved the small disk in place, lunged to a stand and began dialing quickly. Smiling with relief at the satisfying whoosh of a connection, he fumbled for his IDC and took a couple of steps towards the platform where the Drs. were now standing and facing the puddle…waiting for him to lead them through or give them an order to. At least they remembered protocol to that degree, he thought.

"More dogs, McKay!" Jones called, sounding resigned.

Just as Rodney finished punching in his code and was about to say, "Go ahead," his radio crackled into life and instead he shouted frantically, "WAIT!" listening closely to his headset.

Elizabeth's voice was urgently…whispering?…to them, "Incoming party, our protective shield is still up. Regardless of IDC or other forms of confirmation we can't lower it at this time, do not enter the gate or you will be killed!"

Rodney jumped onto the stone platform, feeling like he was at least putting his back to something and turned to look at where Jones was steadily aiming his 9 mil. A large lone canine was approaching them from the same direction they'd just come. Something about it's size, or maybe the way it held its ears led McKay to believe this was the same creature they'd watched do battle and drive off the smaller male. It was clearly hunting, but hadn't yet lowered into a stalking crouch. And sure as they watched, it also shook its head drunkenly and staggered once or twice as it continued to near.

Grabbing the radio in its chest pocket he dipped his chin and snapped, "Elizabeth! What's going on? This is Rodney! I've sent my IDC, let us through!"

"We've got a situation here, Rodney, you'll have to wait." Again her voice was oddly hushed, although the annoyed urgency came through loud and clear.

McKay looked back at the canine, who'd begun snarling aggressively at them and dropping its head. Jones poked him and pointed a bit off to the south where another, smaller animal had come into view following the first.

"We have a bit of a situation here ourselves!" His voice rose in pitch with anxiety, and this time he could hear the concern and worry in Elizabeth's reply.

"I'm… I'm sorry. Try to hang on, we'll try to get the shield down as soon as we can. Weir out…"

Exchanging dumbfounded expressions, Rodney stepped again shoulder to shoulder with Jones and raised his own 9 mil at the second canine. "Can't go that way," he told the marine.

"I heard."

Shifting nervously, the group warily watched the large male growl closer. Just when McKay was shooting looks at Jones, waiting for a signal to fire, the smaller animal barked several times, flapped its ears and yowled at its partner. The larger animal, momentarily distracted, turned its head and snarled back, then resumed glaring at McKay… or at least that's what it felt like the animal was doing.

Pouncing almost playfully forward a few steps, the smaller animal barked again, and again the first was distracted for a moment. McKay looked at Jones, who looked back and shrugged, never lowering his weapon, but puzzled by the odd behavior. Suddenly Dr. Miles piped up from behind them, "Hey! I wonder…" just as the second animal finally trotted up nose to nose with the first. The invasion of space earned it a snarl and a snap, but suddenly aggressive itself, the smaller animal snarled and snapped back. Then, tail held high, it walked with a prancing trot right past the first, past the DHD nearly by the feet of the unmoving humans on the Stargate platform and off several yards further into the meadow. Its look back towards the large male was almost sultry. If you were a dog that is.

Shaking its head again, the male suddenly seemed to forget all about glaring at Rodney and bounded after its flirting companion. For a second thinking that they were about to witness another vicious fight, the snarling and snapping and ear flapping suddenly turned into…

Jones blushed furiously. Katie giggled a little, but didn't sound embarrassed.

"Oh…my," said McKay.

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"Weir out…"

Elizabeth chewed her lip and took deep breaths, uncertainty and fear, and worry now for Rodney's team, almost overwhelming her. Suddenly reckless, she rose quickly and took two long steps out into the gateroom, looking hurriedly up at the upper deck's railing, and preparing herself to dodge quickly again if John was about to fire at her.

Nothing happened. Afraid he had already left, she took two more steps back to scan more of the area above her. She spotted him at last, standing by the DHD, staring vaguely at the Stargate, his weapon held loosely at his side. Even from that distance, she could see the fatigue in his frame, and the flickering gate reflected only dully in his glazed, mesmerized eyes. He looked shockingly pale, but then, maybe that was only a trick of the light…

Hope began to bubble into Elizabeth's chest and tapping her headset so he could hear her without yelling, she finally recited the lines she'd rehearsed in her mind since she first formed her plan… "John, this is Elizabeth. Kolya is dragging me through the gate. You have to stop him from taking me off Atlantis."

Never taking her eyes off of him, Elizabeth watched Sheppard turn his head slowly and look down at her. To further re-create the situation, she backed up quickly several steps towards the active gate and the humming shield. "John, Kolya says… '_You'll serve the Genii as payment for what you've done.'_" She took another feigned-lurching step backwards. Idly, she wondered if the shield itself was dangerous from _this_ side…

"Ford! Change of plan, you get McKay." Elizabeth could hear John's words through the open radio, although they were too soft and breathy to be heard otherwise. She actually smiled as he next raised his weapon and darted towards the steps. "Kolya!" he shouted, this time making himself heard as the harsh word echoed through the room. She waited.

At last he was at the bottom of the stairs and his movement became slow and predatory. His weapon was held high and he sighted carefully through its scope. "You're not going anywhere," he hissed, sounding almost amused. He took two more slow deliberate steps. "I _will_ shoot you if you don't let her go." The quiet fury and frighteningly calm anguish in John's voice drew shivers down Elizabeth's spine. She'd been too scared to notice the chilling intensity of his emotion that day when Kolya had actually been holding her.

She managed to choke out her next line, dredged from her own memory and the nightmares… "And risk hurting Dr. Weir?"

"I'm not aiming at her."

Even expecting the shot to come, she still flinched when John fired a single round so close over her shoulder that she could swear she felt the breeze of its passing. Biting her lip, she could hardly stand the anticipation… would he get close enough?

Blinking wearily, Sheppard lowered his gun, staggered forward and muttered "Sorry about that, I had to…" His voice trailed off as it had before, but this time he closed his eyes and winced ever so slightly before opening them to lock onto her face. "You OK?"

Her own heart pounding in her ears with hope, she shook her head slowly and said, "No." Then holding her breath, willing him to reach for her with every ounce of her soul, she waited and watched, not daring to move too soon or risk startling him…

Blinking again, his voice was low and quiet, "You will be. Come on…" and slowly he reached out an unsteady hand.

Just as slowly and allowing a relieved smile to dance on her lips she took it. And held on. He closed his eyes again, gasping a little, and she pulled in even closer, brought her other hand up to hold onto his elbow firmly. Looking at Edison who had made his way out from under the stairs, she gave him a small nod to begin approaching very slowly. The rest of the team also began closing in.

"And you will be, too, John," she told him, hoping it was true. She gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.

He tugged a bit and leaned towards the stairs. Before, they had run together up them to help Rodney raise the shield and save the city. But she planted her feet and held on, keeping him in place as Edison's team edged even closer. Like Carson, she could feel his hammering pulse through his light sleeves. He radiated damp heat. "You gave us quite a run, John!" She couldn't resist. He threw a puzzled look at her, and then studied her face for so long she squirmed.

"I'm really tired, Elizabeth…" he whispered at last. She watched him fighting through the fog, and the fear she'd seen there before had given way to pure exhaustion.

"I'll bet you are."

Closing the last two or three steps quickly, Edison and Toreil each grabbed an arm while Mitchelson deftly stripped John of his arsenal of acquired weapons, and then, with amused respect, emptied his bulging pockets of generator parts. John stiffened and bucked back as if to struggle, but Elizabeth quickly put a soothing hand on his chest and called out firmly, "Post mission medical check, Colonel. Beckett's waiting. Standard procedure after all." He relaxed a little but remained focused on her, as if she were a lifeline. "Trust me, John," she added very softly.

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He was tired. Oh, so tired. And his chest hurt, in rhythmic stabbing jolts of agony.

The exhaustion worked to one advantage in that he no longer felt compelled to respond to every flash of memory that was still assaulting him. He was slowly sinking into his past and starting to simply watch it crawl by.

He felt hands grab him, firmly but not roughly, and he suddenly realized his own felt cold...empty. Elizabeth had let go. He struggled feebly for a moment, but then heard her voice and felt a light touch. She was still here. Post-mission checkup. Infirmary. He had memories of that.

With supreme effort he concentrated through the visions and finally found himself at the surface, if only barely.

"Trust me, John," Elizabeth was saying.

Betrayal, fear, rage, grief, relief all hit him simultaneously, but he held on... Elizabeth was still watching him hopefully, expectantly.

He trusted her.

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Nodding wearily to himself, John leaned in the direction of the infirmary and allowed Edison and Toreil, closely followed by Mitchelson, Abramowicz and the paramedics, to escort him off the platform and into the hallway.

Elizabeth watched for a moment, trembling a bit with reaction. If she weren't so damn worried, she'd be amused at the sight of 4 heavily armed soldiers guarding one man in bare feet and a T-shirt. That about summed up John Sheppard she decided. There was so much more to him than appeared on the surface…

Gathering her composure, she trotted off after him. They still had work to do.

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McKay sat swinging his legs on the Stargate platform, watching the palm life signs detector and idly arguing with Jones, who was sitting just below him on the ground, leaning against the stone. He had to squint a bit in the sunshine and tilted the screen this way and that as he prattled.

"I'm just saying… Sheppard always keeps a spare bullet-thingy in his vest."

"Let it go, McKay." Jones' retort was mild and he shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a spot that didn't tweak tender ribs.

"I just mean, it seems really handy to have extra bullets around and you might consider…"

"I DO carry a spare…and the word is _magazine_… when there's any chance I might meet a wraith, but the rest of the time…"

"Sheppard always has a spare."

"You were the one that managed to empty the thing in 5 seconds…!"

"I'm just saying… There is it again." Rodney poked at the sensor and unconsciously aimed it at the reading he was puzzled by. The jumper was parked near the DHD, its back hatch resting open on the sunny ground. Dr. Brown, Dr. Miles, Lorne and the rest were spread in a wide line some distance out, walking slowly away from the Stargate, studying the ground closely as they went.

The group had watched the canine couple with varying degrees of amusement until Atlantis had finally radioed them that their "situation" had been resolved, but that it would take some time to break Sheppard's code and get the shield down. Sheppard himself was apparently in no condition to offer much help in that task. Since by then the dogs had finished their antics and had trotted happily away together, pouncing and wagging their tails like two young pups, they'd decided to wait here and spend their time looking for a flower that hadn't burst its seeds and pollen yet. Lorne wanted to get Jones to the infirmary as soon as possible and then return to continue looking for Ronon, but in the meantime, he was grudgingly assisting in the flower-hunt.

"There's what again?" Jones sounded as if he'd be interested in anything Rodney had to say that wasn't about carrying spare P-90 clips…

"I keep seeing a signature that comes and goes, as if it's only moving a little every few minutes, or moving so slowly that the LSD only catches it now and then…"

"Where, McKay!" Jones was suddenly excited and had his hand on his radio waiting impatiently for the answer.

"Um, just south of Lorne and Dr. Brown…"

"Lorne, this is Jones. We got a bogey just south of your position, moving too randomly to be a canine so…"

"You think it might be Ronon!" Rodney hopped off the stone and stopping only briefly at the jumper to grab a stunner, he lumbered into the field towards the suspicious dot. For the moment it was conspicuously absent on the small screen. Lorne and Walker had already broken their line formation to move southwards. He was huffing and puffing and steaming up his mask by the time he neared where he thought the signature might have been and decided that maybe the atmosphere on this planet was a bit thin. Or maybe he should work out with Ronon a bit more once they got the man home and all cured. Rejecting that ridiculous thought, he felt sure the atmosphere was probably just lacking in oxygen…

McKay had just jogged past Dr. Brown and Dr. Miles who were standing close together, idly watching the odd activity, when Katie unexpectedly shrieked. Rodney whirled around to see Ronon suddenly standing there, looking wild and filthy, holding Katie into his chest with a knife pressed to her chin. She looked terrified, her eyes darting ,wide-eyed, between Miles and McKay and back again.

For the moment, Rodney decided that looking non-threatening was the best approach. If Ronon were re-living memories of cutting Wraith throat, he wanted to look as little like a wraith as possible. Or like anything else in the "enemy" category for that matter. Noticing suddenly that they were all wearing bug-like filter masks, he realized with a jolt, that looking non-threatening was probably going to be difficult. They'd had them on so long, he'd forgotten how odd they actually looked.

Throwing a glance over his shoulder, he saw that Lorne and his team were also moving his way, but were out of position to help. They also seemed cautious, recognizing the need to stay calm. Raising his hands in what he hoped looked like a calming gesture, Rodney called out to his teammate, "Ronon! It's me Rodney. Dr. Rodney McKay. From Atlantis. We're all your friends here. We might look a little…odd…but it really is me. Your best friend and all." Ronon only squinted with a calculating dart of his eyes, and swept the meadow as if numbering off his opponents. "Well, actually I suppose Sheppard's probably more of the best friend type, maybe even Teyla, but hey we're buddies right?" McKay paused again, hoping that Lorne was thinking of something to do…

Dr. Miles, however, seemed to find the waiting unsatisfactory and, standing not far from Rodney, he puffed himself up and took an aggressive step forward. With alarm, McKay saw that he was brandishing some sort of gun, although not of any design he was familiar with. "Unhand her!" he yelled pompously, and wrapped both hands around his weapon as if to fire.

Shouting, "Back off, Miles!" Rodney watched in horror as Ronon braced himself and just as he'd feared, curled his lip into a snarl that signaled an oncoming act of sure-to-be-spectacular violence. Having no plan but sheer panic, Rodney simply rushed Ronon, yelling something that he hoped sounded like, "Stop, Ronon, we're here to help," and threw himself at the delusional runner.

The mindless act worked to the degree that Ronon was forced to fling out his knife hand, away from Katie's throat to fend off Rodney's flying body. Miles apparently took the action as a cue, because while McKay went slamming breathlessly down on his back, the biologist also moved to rush the larger man. This time Ronon merely threw _Katie_ at Miles, giving himself ample time to draw his huge ugly energy weapon and aim it at the falling couple.

Still out of breath, Rodney gasped out a ragged, "NO!" as the weapon leveled. Then he blinked as Ronon was engulfed in a blue flash and grimacing with pain and the effort of trying to resist, he slowly toppled onto the ground.

Rodney shook his head and Lorne jogged up to him out of the grass to drop on one knee and offer him a hand up. Rodney took it to help himself sit, but wasn't planning on standing just yet. Rubbing his chest where Ronon had struck him, he looked around for Katie. Dr. Miles was just reaching down to help Katie stand, who was staring up at him with doe eyes of admiration. "Thank you, Nathan…" he heard her say breathlessly.

"It was nothing, Katie." Nathan shrugged smugly, and wrapped his arm around her in a wholly pathetic gesture of support. "I'm just glad you're OK."

Rolling his head and grimacing with disgust, Rodney just muttered to himself, "This is so not fair…" He was finally distracted by the activity surrounding Ronon.

"Sir, I don't like his vitals. Can we get to Atlantis yet? I think he needs medical attention." Walker was the team's field medic, and was hovering worriedly over Ronon's motionless form, hand on the man's limp wrist.

"Go! Dial in and see if we can get through. If not, have them send a medical team here." Lorne snapped at Stackhouse who darted off immediately.

"What's wrong with him? Accelerated heart rate?" Rodney managed to speak and stumble over at the same time, "Because that's what was wrong with Sheppard…"

"Actually," Walker frowned, then suddenly active, he leaped on Ronon's chest in CPR compressions and bellowed, "Very slow pulse, his breathing and heart rate are both depressed and falling."

Rodney watched blankly, thinking that here again he sat facing the certain death of a friend. He didn't know what saddened him the most: That this was the 2nd time in a single day, or that he was actually getting used to it…which meant he panicked less and could think more. He tapped his fingers together rapidly, searching his mind for anything he could do or have that would help.

Suddenly digging in his very front vest pocket, he held out the Epi Pen he had made such a show of tucking away just this morning. "Would this help?" he asked, squatting and holding the device up for Walker to see.

Walker looked panicky, and thought it through for several long moments. "I…I think it might. Do it McKay."

McKay looked briefly around for Lorne to see if the Major also agreed to the risk, and realized that Lorne had disappeared, pelting across the meadow towards the jumper to retrieve the portable defibrillator if needed. So with trembling fingers, he snapped off the cap, shifted the cylinder into his fist and jabbed the spring-loaded needle into Ronon's thigh, counting out the seconds before he removed it. Then they waited. Walker moved his fingers to Ronon's neck.

After a long minute that seemed like a year to Rodney, Walker whispered hopefully, "Pulse is picking up…feels a bit fast even." With a sigh of relief McKay sat down heavily in the flowers next to Ronon and tried to drop his forehead on his knees until the bulky mask jammed his chin painfully and he settled for wrapping his arms around his crossed legs.

Lorne joined them a few minutes later, lugging a couple cases of gear. He set them down and wiped his brow, looking not at all unhappy for them to be unneeded. "Shield's down," he announced after catching his breath and sounding almost cheerful once he'd learned that Ronon was stabilized for now. "We can go home. Let's get this big guy to Beckett…"

Wearily McKay stood up and helped Walker and Lorne heft the heavy, unconscious Ronon upright, then, feet dragging behind him, they each slung an arm over their shoulders and headed towards the Stargate.

Rodney picked up the medical gear and trudged along behind, feeling like this day couldn't end soon enough and worrying about whether anything they had done would help his friends recover. A couple wilted cups of flowers seemed like little accomplishment for the time and effort. They had recovered Ronon too, at least, he reminded himself.

Dr. Brown and Dr. Miles walked just ahead of the grunting Lorne and Walker, chatting amiably about the stupid dogs. "_Unhand her_!" McKay muttered mockingly as he noticed they were now holding hands as they walked, "Who talks like that!" He must have said it out loud because Lorne snorted with amusement, and McKay felt a little bit better.

Sweating and irritable, McKay paused at the jumper to drop of the medical boxes and the stunner, then ran to catch up with Lorne and Walker. They planned to walk through the Stargate and leave Stackhouse to bring the jumper in after. Rodney plodded the last few steps to the Stargate, trying and failing to add up the number of miles he'd walked today. Dr. Miles was still holding his strange gun and waving it around carelessly and Katie was laughing airily at some witty thing he had just said when Ronon suddenly came to life just as Lorne had heaved him up the tall step onto the gate platform. Unbalanced, Lorne fell off in a sprawl, and Walker tumbled over just as easily at the vicious shove Ronon gave him.

Ronon swiped the strange gun out of Miles' hand, and the two Drs., clearly finished with adventures for the day simply dove into the Stargate and were gone. Whirling, Ronon found only one target in his vicinity left standing and fired at a very confused and frozen Rodney…then exhausted and ill, he collapsed in a heap. Lorne scrambled up, kicked the weapon away and, signaling Walker to drag Ronon on through the gate, he leaped off the stone and ran to where McKay stood swaying.

The world began to feel very strange to Rodney, and looking stupidly down at the prick in his leg, he saw a small feathery tranquilizer dart sticking out of his thigh. "Oh," he thought to himself with an amused giggle. "That's what kind of a gun it was."

He dropped to his knees as Lorne rushed up. Rodney looked at him with a wide bemused grin. "I wonder if he had that with him the whole time, the ass." He fell further onto his stomach, managing to catch himself by his elbows before his face and mask struck the ground. Staring blearily into the leaves and stems below him, he saw a very tiny, perfectly pristine flower petal, neatly wrapped up around itself.

"Hey!" He said too loudly, but slurring the words out nonetheless, "I found an unopened one!"

As he sagged further towards the ground, his mask just barely touched the little flower's leaves and with a tiny warm puff of air that he could feel on his eyebrows, a burst of pollen and seeds sprinkled his hair.

"Figures…" he said. And blacked out.


	8. Chapter 8

Elizabeth was pacing again and finally unable to watch John struggling weakly against the restraints in his bed any longer, she found herself wandering over to Teyla's side. In some ways, Teyla looked just as exhausted as John, although Beckett kept assuring her that her physical condition was not as severe. Still, the young woman who always had a ready smile for Elizabeth and an unquenchable strength, looked weary and drawn. Perhaps, like John's, her memories were difficult to re-live. 

Eylana still sat next to her friend, and although she wasn't listening intently anymore, she held Teyla's hand lightly and kept quiet vigil.

Stepping close, Elizabeth smiled at Eylana who returned the expression and gestured for her to sit too. They watched in comfortable silence for a while before Elizabeth asked, "Have you known Teyla for a long time?"

Eylana grinned and nodded. "Yes, we grew up together. Our fathers were the greatest of friends. Sometimes as children, we believed we actually were sisters…or cousins at least." Elizabeth thought there was some hesitancy in the woman's answer, and being curious about Teyla's life before joining Atlantis, she asked the question she probably wouldn't have asked of anyone else…

"Are you not still close?"

Eylana nodded this time with respect at Elizabeth's insight. "We are still friends, but not as close. When the burden of leadership fell to Teyla, her duties required much of her time and… I felt she put too much distance between her work and her personal life. She got so serious at such a young age. We drifted apart," she admitted.

"And now she's even farther from her people," Elizabeth added with sadness.

"She has talked much about Atlantis in her dreams. She has learned many things, experienced many adventures, and trials, and triumphs." Eylana fixed Elizabeth with a steady gaze. "She belongs here."

Elizabeth was touched, and they sat together for a while longer. Finally feeling restless again, she whispered words of encouragement to Teyla and was walking back to check on John when a bust of activity and clatter of feet and noise and voices startled her to jog towards the Infirmary entrance. She pressed herself against one wall to get out of the way as first Ronon, then Rodney were wheeled in on gurneys, shadowed by a paramedic each. The wheeled beds were parked in the triage area and nurses descended upon the pair.

Next came Lt. Jones walking gingerly with an arm tucked into his side and escorted by his commander, Maj. Lorne who saw him to a bed and made sure he was getting looked at before stepping away. Lorne looked around the infirmary, spotted Elizabeth and headed in her direction.

But Elizabeth's eyes were on Beckett who was practically pouncing on Dr. Brown's plant samples. Grabbing them none-too-politely, he held them up once for a long gaze, then thrust them into the hands of a waiting lab technician with a spate of instructions. The technician hurried away with the precious plants.

Elizabeth headed towards Beckett, and Lorne, noticing, changed direction to meet her. Together they stopped for a moment, listening to the intense dialog of Drs. Brown, Miles and Beckett huddled in deep conversation.

"You following that?" she whispered at Lorne.

"No, ma'am." He shrugged.

Nodding she turned away and swept her eyes across Ronon, looking very much like Sheppard except covered in mud and grass, McKay looking pale and…drooling a bit… and the now reclining Jones. Finally she addressed Lorne again. "Thank you, Major, for brining Ronon home…What happened out there?"

Lorne sighed a deep long sigh. "That's a long story ma'am."

She nodded, "The one thing I've noticed, Major, is that when you're waiting around in the infirmary, one has lots of time to kill." She gestured resignedly towards a pair of chairs by the infirmary door.

"Yes, ma'am."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's actually very lucky Rodney's team observed the canines as closely as they did."

"Sounded like they did more running from and shooting at than observing…" 

_Rodney slowly became aware of voices speaking near him, and although they were quiet and calm, he could catch most of the words. They just didn't mean anything to him in the quiet stillness of not-quite-conscious…_

"That may well be, but the lab results just came back on the flowers, pollen, seeds etc. and as Dr. Brown suspected, none of those can account for the symptoms Sheppard and his team are experiencing."

_The first voice was male and had a gentle lilt. Rodney could almost put a name to it…_

"You mean, after everything Lorne and Rodney went through it wasn't the flowers after all?"

_The second speaker was a woman and the strength and compassion in her voice immediately identified her…_

"No, no, Elizabeth. In fact I'm certain that the flowers **are** the cause, but Dr. Brown believes, and I concur, that when the petals burst, they must release an organic gas of some sort that jettisons the seeds and also drugs the canines. Sheppard's team just got caught up in the circle of life on that nasty little planet."

_Becoming more aware with each passing second, Rodney started to get interested in the conversation and was just considering a go at opening his eyes and joining in on the topic._

"But Carson, that little dust mask Rodney was wearing… it wouldn't have protected him from a gas that potent, would it?"

"Nae… not for long anyway. I'm betting that the Colonel and the others were exposed to a concentrated or direct burst of the flower-gas at some point. Rodney, may not have been directly exposed like they were, or the mask may have offered enough protection for no longer than he was there. But mostly, the silly lad just got dumb lucky."

_Rodney decided to play dead for a few minutes longer, not liking the way the talk had turned._

"So where do the canines come in?" 

Y_eah, Rodney wondered, where **do** the canines come in?_

"Well! This is all very interesting…" 

Not likely, thought Rodney.

"Dr. Brown and Dr. Miles theorize that the canines and plants have a symbiotic dependency. The canines distribute the pollen and seeds in their fur to other plants and locations to spread genetic diversity. In turn, the gas seems to stimulate hormones and behaviors that facilitate reproduction of the fittest. Territorial and rutting aggression in the males, selectivity and possible fertility stimulation in the females just for example."

"So that's why John and Ronon were so agitated and Teyla was much quieter. But Carson, our people are not dogs…"

"No, but all creatures are essentially chemical machines. Our bodies use hormones to maintain daily bodily function like any animal…"

"What about the memories?" Elizabeth's voice was soft and wary, and Rodney could hear Carson sigh.

"That takes a bit more reaching, but Dr. Brown and I speculate that, as Rodney guessed, the organic gas also triggers the memory centers of the brain, possibly to help the Canines recognize a former successful mate, or find a previous mating ground. The human mind is much more complex and the memory, especially, is incredibly more developed than the lower animals…"

"And so this particular side effect was also more developed. So to speak."

"Aye. Might prove a wonderful medical treatment for Alzheimers someday." Carson sounded optimistic and there was a brief pause as Elizabeth seemed to be digesting the overload of information. _Rodney found himself almost dozing off again, before even really waking up…_

"So, back to my original question. Why was observing the dogs so lucky?"

"Ah yes. Jones told you about watching the male and female pair by the gate?"

Rodney could hear the snicker in her reply as she said, "Yes. He was beet red from blushing by the time he finished his report, poor boy."

"He was a bit flustered when he talked to me too. Anyway the important part was how the creatures behaved _after_ their encounter…"

Rodney stopped listening, his mind working furiously as he recalled the scene himself and sitting suddenly bolt upright, he sputtered out at Carson, "Are you saying… that to cure Sheppard and Teyla they have to… Do you mean... WHAT are you saying here!"

Carson and Elizabeth whirled at Rodney's outburst, their surprised expressions rapidly turning into amused relief. Together they stepped up next to his bed and smiling, Elizabeth patted his knee and said, "Welcome back Rodney. How do you feel?"

But Rodney would have none of it. Not yet. Fixing Carson with his best "King of the Lab" glare, he repeated. "Are you telling me that Sheppard and Ronon and Teyla got knocked out by some "Call of the Wild" aphrodisiac flower fumes and that to cure them they have to….to…" He stumbled to a halt, reddening himself.

"Mate, Rodney?" Carson was way too amused for Rodney's liking. "No, Rodney," he went on reassuringly. "Medical ethics aside, we have plenty of drugs that simulate the related hormones and we've started them on a course of several in the hopes that the organic compounds in the gas are intended to breakdown or dissipate in their presence."

"Oh." Rodney looked uncomfortably relieved. "…And?"

Carson smiled warmly. "And, it's working." He gestured slightly behind him.

Rodney shifted to see Sheppard in the next bed over, laying quietly in deep restful sleep. The heart monitor set up next to him beeped softly, its tempo sounding about right to Rodney, although Carson might have said it was still a bit fast for a person at rest… Beyond Sheppard, Ronon also lay just as still, looking cleaned up and not nearly so wild.

"We wouldn't have figured this out without your theory from at the beginning, Rodney. You did good…" Elizabeth's praise was warm and genuine and McKay finally felt himself relax. It was over. He'd resuscitated Ronon with the epi-pen, and saved the Colonel's ass one more time, and probably found a cure for Alzheimers and all mental illness in the process. Not bad for a day's work, he thought. He sat back against the pillows looking forward to a leisurely evening of well deserved pampering and pretty nurses bringing him food.

"Rodney. You're fine. You can go now."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elizabeth was engrossed in a detailed report from Stargate Command when John Sheppard sidled into her office. Carson had released him and his team last night and cleared them for light duty today. They would all most likely be back to full duty in a couple of days. She held up her hand distractedly to indicate she needed a moment to finish and tried valiantly to cram in the last bit of information the report had to offer as John quietly perched on her desk and began to rearrange her ornaments.

Giving it up as a lost cause, she stared blankly at the screen for a second before slowly pushing back and relaxing into her seat. John hopped off immediately into the chair opposite and sat looking mildly bored, waiting for her to speak first. She studied him closely before she did.

John certainly looked showered and fresh and was radiating the annoying charm she knew so well. He certainly looked much better than the night before last when she'd sat with him as he finally slept, face still pale and pinched with lingering pain, his hair matted from the day's ordeal... Aside from the bruise on his cheek that was rapidly turning from red to a mottled purple, he looked the same as he had the morning he'd stepped into the Stargate. Still, she detected just a hint of fatigue in his posture, and a shadow of melancholy in his expression that worried her.

"How are you feeling?" She said at last, knowing that the little phrase meant a lot more about their friendship and her reputation for bad bedside manner than about his physical condition.

He smiled in appreciation and fiddled with his hands in his lap. "A little tired," he admitted. "Carson's threatened me with bed rest if I so much as jog up the stairs today. Apparently being thiiiiiiis close to a coronary infarction riles the man into a mother hen frenzy." John made light of the statement, and held his fingers ridiculously close together as he squinted comically at them. But Elizabeth felt a jolt through her stomach. She didn't know it had been that near a miss.

Trying to conceal her unease with humor she raised an eyebrow and said, "According to Carson, it's a good thing you and Ronon are in such good shape. I believe his words were 'strapping young lads…'" She loved it when she managed to embarrass her usually cool 2nd in command, and at his uncomfortable squirming, she let him off the hook by adding, "He said Rodney wouldn't have lasted the afternoon…"

John chuckled and sighed, "Yeah, I need to push him a bit more. Maybe I'll tell him he has to take lessons with Teyla…" he trailed off at the wicked thought, then seemed really pleased by the idea. Looking at his hands again, he went on hastily as if losing his courage to speak, "Look, Elizabeth, if you're not doing anything at the moment," he gave her tablet computer with the report still displayed on it a glare, "Could we go through the end-of-year personnel reviews for my command now, instead of next week? Carson won't let me do anything but paperwork today anyway so…"

Wondering why he looked so awkward, she thought through her schedule quickly and nodded. "Sure, she said, give me a second to re-arrange a couple things."

His voice was even softer as he went on, "And I thought we could maybe sit out on the East Pier while we work."

She looked up quickly in surprise expecting the suggestion to be a joke, or a bad attempt at obviously-inappropriate-so-you-won't-think-I'm-serious flirting. Instead, he just looked back at her with quiet sincerity. A bit confused, and just a tad flustered she crossed her arms and teased, "John Sheppard, are you taking me for a walk in…"

"Don't." His soft rebuke stopped her. "I just… I just think that next time I have to spend a day re-living the last two years, I want some of those memories to be of sitting on the East Pier." He tried to make a joke out of the situation, but she saw the determined look in his eyes and finally understood that he was dead serious. He'd lived through hell in a day and was searching for something more than work and crisis and survival. Hadn't she made just such a vow to herself in the infirmary two days ago? That she would try to find quiet, pleasant time with her colleagues…and friends?

"Ok." She replied. Catching and holding his eyes, they exchanged a silent promise. "That sounds really nice."

She bustled at her desk for a moment, changing her calendar and unplugging her laptop from the workstation so she could carry it with her. Finally ready, she looked around, smiled at John and they moved towards the office door. Just before they passed into the hallways that led out to the main part of the city, he suddenly paused in mid-step. Elizabeth watched him closely, suddenly worried. Slowly and timidly, he stuck out his elbow and swiveled a bit, offering it to her. Grinning happily, she looped her own arm through his.

A few strolling, arm-in-arm steps later he turned to her mischievously. "Now THIS," he said, finally sounding like his usual playful self, "is a Walk in the…"

"DON'T SAY IT!"

_Author's note: I would like to say a heartfelt thanks for the cool people on gateworld who took the time to write out and post transcripts of most of the episodes I drew "memories" from. Made the writing much easier and saved me lots of time in front of the DVD player watching TV...hey wait, what was I thinking darnit ;-) I would also like to say that "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," and I extend my heartfelt apologies to any botanists and endocrinologists out there who feel I have butchered their science with my "little knowledge" as I crafted this story. You can blame wikipedia, entirely. _


	9. PS and Goodnight

_P.S. _

"Colonel!"

"What is it Rodney?" John was worn out and trying not to admit it when McKay came bounding up with exasperating energy. He had almost made it to his bedroom doors… two more steps and he could collapse into comfortable exhaustion…

"So you gotta tell me something. How did you know about thermogenic plants? I'd never heard of them before Dr. Brown told me about them, much less that they could or did exist on Earth. I've been reading all about them today, they're surprisingly very interesting…"

"I'm feeling fine, but a little tired. Thanks for you concern Rodney. It means a lot that you asked…" John interrupted. He actually felt grumpy and a little annoyed at being badgered about plants when he really wanted to sleep. That and he was carrying a bit of a grudge against anything with leaves at the moment.

"Oh, yeah. Good to see you back on your feet. So the plants. Were you just pulling my leg? You'd really heard of them before?"

John sighed and realized that it would be easier to answer Rodney's question than fight it off. The egotistic astrophysicist had this extremely annoying habit of freaking out anytime John knew something he didn't and would pester the hell of John until he was reassured that he was, in fact, still smarter than the Air Force flyboy. "No Rodney, I wasn't pulling your leg. My crazy Great-great Aunt Alberta always went on and on about her Philodendron talking to her because it was warm blooded. Looked just like a plant to me, but she had her botany right. She'd also put all her plants outside at night because they 'came to life and started breathing up her oxygen…' Learned all about photosynthesis from that one."

He yawned and shook himself a little to stay awake, trying to remember enough to satisfy McKay. "Oh, yeah. I also saw one of those giant Corpse Plants in bloom once, they're thermogenic when they're blooming. Big ugly sucker and smelled like hell. But yes, they're pretty cool. Can I go to bed now?"

"Titan arum. Yes, I read about those too. They're still pretty rare on Earth, only a few gardens have cultivated them to bloom successfully… Were you at the one that bloomed in 2003 in Germany?"

"No."

"Were you at one of the gardens in London or UC Davis?" John just loved the way Rodney asked his questions more to reveal how much he already knew than to actually get an answer.

"No, I wasn't in any garden."

Rolling his eyes with exasperated superiority, Rodney waved his hands at John, "Well, they don't just grow in your back yard. You wouldn't see one outside a professional botanical setting unless you happened to be traipsing around the rainforests of Sumatra. Maybe you only thought…it…was…" He trailed off as John only stared pointedly. He stuttered a moment, circling his finger in the air, "So… so you were in Sumatra?"

"I'm not at liberty to say." Taking those last two steps, he smirked mysteriously at McKay… and closed the door.


End file.
